The Rise of the Top 12
by J-Dub -Silver Enigma
Summary: The story behind an elite dozen of heroes unfolds. Contains use of Beanie Babies through references and ideas from many of your favorite action cartoons, anime and video games. It's more than you think it may be.
1. Prologue

**AN: Hey everyone! I hope you guys are doing fine.**

**If you've been reading my past stories, you'll love this one because I am going to try and put together a few more pieces of the puzzle I am trying to make. I'm still doing my best to work out the kinks and subtleties, but this one will be better because this is the first of twenty-one stories that I already know by heart. The others can be a one-shot deal for me—so I literally improvise on the rest. I hope I'm not doing too bad... :)**

**But I digress. Please bear with me because I am improving at every moment I create these stories to, in turn, create possible interest in you guys. If you have ANYTHING in mind that you may want to express, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm open to your comments, questions, and possible advice (because I could still use some pointers).**

**Well, read on! Here's my fourth story.**

_[The text in Italics are thoughts in the characters' minds.]_

* * *

**~The Rise of the Top 12~**

Chapter 1 – Prologue

It has been four years since Sweet and his new companions (Mac, Mystic and Canyon) have had their run-ins with the other potential humanimals. They wondered if the others had forgotten about ever coming to Titans Tower and joining them. Nevertheless, they have had to live life and move on, whether or not they had forgotten.

As time passed, the Tower-dwellers have changed along with it. First of all, they all wanted to be in the same grade (7th), to gradute at the same time. The principal at the Academy would allow it. But what had really changed were their personalities.

Sweet (age 15) has developed a thirst for action. When he was younger, he did not like to fight, but he did not have a choice. Now, when Sentinels are attacking or if there is another sort of emergency, he does not want to miss out on the fun. He enjoys being the big hero. He is also one of the quarterbacks on the Academy's football team, which could explain his "thirst". His old friend Wrinkle has completely spaced out from Sweet, up to the point where he would almost despise Sweet with the next thing he does to tick him off.

Mac (age 14) has now molded himself into a "calm but threatening" kind of person. He will barely say anything now, still hidden behind his serious demeanor due to the pain he has endured from his homeland. Anyone who tries to get on his nerves will wish that they had not because will not show mercy upon that person who does. Luckily, no one has done that yet.

The Phoenix remains dormant inside of Mystic (age 12). Regardless, she has turned herself into the "Mary Jane" type of person—the beautiful and popular girl that every guy wants. Unfortunately for them, she is holding out for someone else. She has also become the sister figure to Sweet; they bicker and bother each other from time to time.

Canyon (age 13) has embraced more of his overall personality: wild. He has picked up skateboarding skills, enough to contend with a professional. And along with that, he is the comedian of his friends. But, even at the best of his charismatic ability, he has bad luck with girls. When he tries to flirt with them, they either scoff and walk away, or push him into the nearest object before doing so. And yet, he still tries.

/-/

Most of the setting, this time, takes place at the Academy. After four years, what could possibly happen now?

The action begins in the next chapter. Review whenever you would like to.


	2. A Call to Action

Chapter 2 – A Call to Action

It is February 13th, on a Thursday. It is apparent to everyone that the school day is almost over, as they are within the final hour of it. But Sweet had an itch... an itch for action. He sat in class wearing his favorite teal-colored long sleeve shirt with his khaki pants... it was not his 'waiting outfit'. There have been no emergencies or Sentinels since the past year. He would give anything to get out of the classroom and away from the boring lectures. Sadly, his teacher knew they **were** boring to him, so he had him sit in the front of the class. He was bothered about this.

_"Man, I want some action..." _he thought to himself, as he was about to get his wish. The emergency alarm went off in the Academy, and it was not a drill. The teacher looked outside to see objects flying towards them from a distance. She knew what she had to do, letting out a sigh.

"Go, Sweet..." she said in a low and tired tone.

Sweet shouted "Yes!", and then rushed out of the room to one of the high-speed elevators in the hall and ran outside the front entrance of the main building. Before he was outside, he noticed a group of humanimals inside the main office and wondered why they were there. He had never seen them, so he presumed that they were coming in as new students. Regardless, he continued on.

Mac and Mystic were already outside. Mac wore his usual outfit—black garments exactly like Hiei's (Yu Yu Hakusho), with his red hair matching the hairstyle as well. Mystic wore a green top with a rainbow decorated on the back of it, and blue shorts. Her long hair was white and luminous.

"Where's Canyon?" Sweet asked the two of them.

"He's taking a test..." Mystic responded, "an EXTRA test. Apparently, he got in trouble for toying with the teacher."

Sweet sweatdropped and narrowed his eyes. "Figures."

"Sentinels up ahead!" warned Mac, getting battle-ready. Five mutant-exterminator robots landed in the front parking lot, intent on bringing down the heroes.

"I've been waiting all day for this!" Sweet exclaimed, running to the westernmost Sentinel. It tried to fire a couple of lasers at Sweet, but they missed. Sweet was then close enough to inflict his Flame Uppercut—a flaming fist that rose up and knocked the robot in its core, destroying it. "Who's next?" shouted Sweet.

He saw that Mac and Mystic were handling them pretty well too.

Mac was surrounded by the next two. _"Two on me, huh?" _he thought._ "Fine with me."_ Mac hovered in between both of them. One fired a rocket, but Mac teleported out of the way, letting the rocket destroy the robot behind him. Mac reappeared beside the remaining Sentinel's head. "You never learn." He said, as he then used his Wing Attack—a blade-like strike with Mac's wing, that sliced the Sentinel's head off and made it self-destruct. Mac made it seem too easy.

Mystic stood before the other two. "Let's try this..." she said, using much of her telekinesis to lift both Sentinels off of the ground, powerless. Then she moves her hands closer and closer together until they come together, to in effect, merge both Sentinels together and destroy them when she applied pressure with her hands clamped together.

Just when they thought it was over, a massive wave of a hundred Sentinels came in. They all looked stronger than the originals, and they proved it by driving Sweet, Mac and Mystic back to the front wall of the school. After that happened, they all began to march toward the three in a ten by ten block, to finish them.

"There's too many of them..." Mac said, trying to get up.

"We're boned." Mystic assumed.

When the first row of Sentinels got close, a spring green bunny came out of nowhere with a battle cry. He took down the whole first row, hitting each one in their cores once with his bare fists (90 left). Sweet, Mac and Mystic were shocked at this, and that was just the beginning.

After that, a Sentinel fell over and had itself decapitated... before a lavender bunny appeared beside it. (89 left)

Next, a cocker spaniel ran in front and threw 39 wooden spikes, each one hitting 39 cores and destroying those Sentinels (50 left). He was on the mark.

The next ten flew forward in a straight line, to attack with ten painful missiles. To intercept them, a dalmatian held a black spot and threw it at the Sentinels' path, turning into a black hole. All ten flew into the hole before it disappeared, with no chance of return. (40 left)

After that, a pink-haired white cockatoo destroyed five more, after appearing through a smokescreen. (35 left) And at the same time, a polar bear froze the next five and shattered them to bits and pieces. (30 left)

The frenzy is STILL not over, as a lamb shouted "Nimbus Tornado!", causing the next ten Sentinels to be caught in a whirlwind and dismantled. (20 left)

Canyon, who finally arrived, punched the ground with electric fists and sent streams of lightning that homed in on multiple foes—his Thunder Fist technique. He electrocuted all but one Sentinel (1 left).

Sweet was surprised at all of this. He shot a full-powered optical laser shot at the last one, destroying it. The job was complete. The students and teachers looking from the front windows cheered and appluded their efforts, except for Wrinkle, who was now envious of Sweet. It was as Wrinlke thought before: the only friend he had was himself. And quite frankly, he could cope with that. Now, Wrinkle wanted to let Sweet know that... one way or another. The bell rang, and the prinicipal, who saw what had just happened, knew just what bus to sign the new students on. She let Sweet know that before the buses started to come. After she did, the new students turned to where Sweet, Mac and Mystic were standing.

"Are you three alright?" asked Canyon.

"Yeah, thanks for SHOWING UP LATE!" yelled Mystic in response.

"Hey, I tried my best! The teach is still gonna be a hack anyways..."

"Never mind that." Sweet interrupted, walking up to the new faces. "You guys... WERE AWESOME!"

They all appreciated his compliment.

"Wait a minute..." Mac uttered, seeing black on all of the new students' wrists. "They all have the watch, Sweet. They're with us."

Sweet, Mystic and Canyon noticed that they had seen most of them before.

"Hey, you're right." Mystic concurred. She then called for everyone's attention. "Do you guys still want to join us, maybe set up a team?" They all answered affirmatively. Seeing them agree to it, Sweet was happy.

"Great!" said Sweet. "All right, let's start by introducing ourselves first. My full name is Sweetcheart Summers, but PLEASE call me Sweet."

Mystic was glancing and trying not to blush at the familiar polar bear. "I'm Mystic Melody."

"Aurora Rayne." The polar bear (age 14) said. He wore a white sweater and navy blue pants.

"The name's Mac Cantínis," uttered the cardinal.

"Kuku Bodine, bonjour," said the cockatoo (age 14). She wore all pink this time; a pink beret, blouse and long skirt.

"I'm Hippity Simmons," said the bright green bunny (age 14). He had dark brown eyes and wore a straw cowboy hat (hiding his flat top brown hair) with his red long sleeve plaid shirt (covered by his brown vest), blue jeans and brown boots.

"Hey, I'm Floppity Briggs," responded the lavender bunny (age 13). She had gray eyes and shoulder-long hair that matched her skin color. She wore a light pink long sleeve plaid top, a blue miniskirt and pink boots.

"Yo, your first names rhyme!" Canyon noticed, ending the chain of introductions. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Canyon Walker."

"Spunky Harrington, 'sup?" greeted the cocker spaniel (age 13). He had brown eyes, golden dreadlocks (wearing a backwards cap) and wore a gray shirt with black shorts.

"Greetings from Dotty Trails," responded the dalmatian (age 12). She had jet black eyes, short black hair and wore a blue blouse with blue jeans.

"I'm Fleece Ventura—" the lamb paused, seeing her step-sister stand beside her, "and this is my step-sister, Ewey." They both wore the same thing, as if they were twins. They had blue eyes, long blonde hair and wore orange tops with blue shorts. Everyone had introduced themselves.

"All right then," said Sweet. "The prinicipal told me that the other eight of you will come with myself, Mac, Mystic and Canyon because we're going straight to Titans Tower." The twelve of them boarded the bus that drove to the Tower. Wrinkle had asked Sweet if he could talk with him and his new crew tomorrow after school. Sweet agreed to that, unsure of what was on his mind. For now, Sweet was worried about welcoming his new friends into his home.

/-/

So, how is it so far? Tell me about it!

It's not over yet, so read on.


	3. Towering Diversity

A lot of downtime in this chapter before more action later on. Please, let me know how I'm doing for you, good or not-so-much. I'm all ears.

Chapter 3 – Towering Diversity

Sweet led his new group into Titans Tower and gave them a tour of it. They were stunned just as Sweet was when he first entered the Tower. They had that feeling with them from the basement, up to the Facility. Eventually, Sweet had reached the end of the tour, in the top living room.

"Well guys," he began, "welcome to your new home. Make yourselves comfortable." Everyone had went to various places in the Tower. Sweet looked over to see Fleece, looking out of the window, in thought. He walked up next to her, hearing her sigh.

"What's wrong, Fleece?" he asked her.

"Oh, nothing," she answered.

"Is it your step-sister?"

"No, she's fine. It's just that... I find myself in this sense of perfect peace, no matter what happens."

"What do you mean?" Sweet asked, a bit perplexed.

"Usually, when it's quiet, it's like nothing that anyone says or does to me changes my attitude. I feel at ease."

Sweet rubbed the back of his neck. "So... it's tiring to you?"

"Tiring?" Mac interrupted, teleporting into the conversation. Sweet did not know where he came from. "You should see how I feel."

"I was talking to **her**, Mac. Besides, I've seen your act."

Mac, refusing his urge to talk back, walks away towards the roof-bound elevator. _"Believe me,"_ he thought, _"you have no idea of what I've been through."_

After he left, Sweet had put his arm around Fleece, to assure her that her sense of peace was nothing to worry about.

"Fleece, I think that what you have is a gift. I don't know who gave it to you, but whoever it was must've had a good reason for giving it." he told her.

Fleece smiled in appreciation. "Thanks, Sweet," she responded, before he walked elsewhere.

Sweet started to rub the portion of his arm that he placed around Fleece.

_"She's really soft,"_ he thought, making his way down into the Facility.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the roof, Mac was still sort of sulking about the same thing—his pain. He did not want it, yet he could not get rid of it.

Soon, Kuku had approached him.

"Mac... are you alright?" she asked.

He turned his head towards her with a neutral glare in his eyes. "Why didn't you come back sooner?" Mac interrogated. "Was there really THAT much to sightsee?"

"Sorry... is that what you're upset about? Because I'm here now, and I'm not leaving anytime soon."

"Sure..." Mac sarcastically said.

"Mac!" she raised her voice, not playing along with his tease.

"What else is there to think about a French girl, especially one from Paris? There's lots to see in that city, and you carry that love for sightseeing everywhere you go." he continued.

_"Mac, just stop..."_ she said in her mind, trying to refuse the urge to make him angry by grabbing him without his consent.

"And with that love, all you do is just FLY. I hear Austin, here in Texas, a great city, so I'll bet that you'll fly away just like all the other—"

Mac was interrupted, getting snatched by his torso by Kuku's hands.

"I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" she shouts at Mac. All of that talk about her "love" made her peeved to hear someone close to her bag on it. She soon calms down and slowly releases him afterwards, still looking at him dead in his red eyes. "I won't leave you again..." she adds.

He felt the seriousness in her just by seeing her dilated amber eyes. Usually, if someone else had done that to him, that person would either be seriously hurt or left for dead... but Kuku had a strange effect on him. He could not seriously harm her because she was showing concern for him; it was something that no one in his family ever did for him since he was seven.

Mac turned back to look at the sky again. "I believe you," he finally said.

Kuku felt like she had offended Mac. "I'm sorry if I—"

"No, it's alright. I just need time to myself." Kuku understood and re-entered the Tower. She now thought that getting to know Mac after four years, was going to be her biggest challenge.

* * *

Sweet had heard beeping noises in the Facility-mainly in the super-computer room. He moved to see what was going on, and saw Dotty, actually **working **the super-computer. He thought it was impossible.

"Dotty... HOW are you doing this?" he asked her.

"It's really advanced, but understandable technology," she replied.

Sweet crossed his arms and lowered his eyes. "No it ain't..." he said with doubt.

"Well, **for me** it is. Since I was four, my dad taught me everything he knew about stuff like this. He was with the CIA."

"Your pops was with the CIA?" Sweet remarked. "No wonder you're smart."

"Well, I don't know about all the kinks about this big computer yet. This must be the lastest one ever. If so, I hear that it could do practically ANYTHING."

"Anything?" Sweet wanted to test that out. "I bet it can't make a wide-scale copy of this property and put it out in the Gulf of Mexico."

The computer started to do another action. "Request approved," it said, as there was a sudden shake in the center of gravity throughout the whole Tower.

"Whoa! What just happened?" Sweet asked.

"You got your wish..." stated Dotty, "the radar now says that we are about a few miles from the shores of Galveston. And as a plus, the sonar shows that we are now connected to a secret underwater passageway to the city."

Sweet couldn't believe it. He's not even a grown-up yet, and he is now the proprietor of Titans Tower on his own island now. His dream came true early.

"Wow... what else is there?" Sweet asked.

"Well, there's a new room down the hall—some control center behind a huge chamber, operated mainly by hard-light holographic technology. It's blocked by some bypass code. Hopefully I can break it and help you find more secrets about what this Tower **really** has to offer."

"You'd do that?" Sweet asked.

"Uh-huh. Just say the word, and leave the high-tech stuff to me." The dalmatian seemed very helpful and confident to Sweet.

"Thank you, that'd be awesome!" Sweet left out of the Facility, on the way to the suites, knowing that Dotty is truly a genius.

* * *

Sweet exited the elevator, into the suites. He found Aurora in one of the halls, looking confused about the rooms.

"Hey Aurora, what's up?" Sweet said to him.

"Umm..." he began, "you said anything we could ever need is here at the Tower here, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"What's up with the rooms? I mean, they all look the same!"

"Well, not really. You can actually make them however you like to."

"No way..."

"Yeah way! Come here, let me show you."

Sweet led Aurora to his room. Sweet's room was configured to look like a jungle home on a treetop. Bamboo wallpaper, solid wood floor, and a bed with "jungle-esque" decorated sheets was all set in the room.

"How did you do all of this?" Aurora asked.

"This whole Tower is run by this 'smart system' that hears and follows just about every favor or job you ask of it." Sweet opened his empty closet and asked for a top hat. Suddenly, an Abraham Lincoln-style hat appeared from the top of the closet and dropped in Sweet's hand.

"Whoa!" jumped Aurora. "That's awesome!"

"I know, and you can do your own thing for your room," Sweet finished.

Aurora then went to do just that. He created his own icy wonderland; he requested that the floor and walls would be made of solid ice. It was basically an ice rink, as sliding or skating was the only way to move around. After creating this, Mystic walked in, but did not know that his room was transformed. She slipped and fell on her backside.

"Mystic!" called Aurora, going to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied.

Sweet walked by, seeing what had occurred. "Because your big butt broke your fall?" he teased.

"Hey!" Mystic shouted back, not taking that comment too well. Still, she turned back to look. "Aurora, you don't think it's big do you?"

Being asked that question, Aurora did know whether to say yes or no. If he answered no, he knew that he would appear to be hiding something because he secretly liked her; and if he said yes, he'd be offending her. And it wasn't her posterior that he liked a lot, it was her personality and looks. Seeing her after four years, he now loved to look at the new and improved Irish bombshell. So, he picked the best answer.

"I don't wanna judge on that," he said. "It's your body."

"So I was right!" Sweet proclaimed, still teasing Mystic. He then felt a sharp and loud slap to his face. Mystic was the deliverer. "Ow! That's hurts!" he yelled.

"I'm actually sensitive to that, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" implied Mystic. Her slap made Sweet walk away, not wanting to get hit again.

Aurora was shocked. "Jeez, that was loud..." Aurora murmured, helping Mystic up. She said that she only had come by to see if anyone else had chosen a room. After she left, Aurora checked the calendar and then decided to get or make her a gift, to express his feelings.

* * *

Recovering from stinging pain, Sweet goes down into the Zone (recreation center, second section) and finishes rubbing his left cheek that Mystic smacked. He could not believe how hard she could slap. It felt like getting whacked with a giant stone boulder moving at a ninety miles an hour.

Sweet heard giggling around one of the halls. He found the weight room, where Hippity was lifting Floppity. He was literally raising her up and down, with one hand... and she was liking it.

"Dude, that's freaky..." Sweet uttered.

"No, it's easy for me," Hippity responded, setting Floppity back on her feet.

"So, that's like super-strength?"

"Yeah. See that weight over there?" Hippity pointed at a broken hundred-pound weight plate.

"Oh wow..." said Floppity, who now was invisible.

"Where are you?" Sweet asked.

"In front of you." She reappeared like a ghost and then walked through Sweet as such.

Sweet touched around his body to make sure that he was still in one piece. "Whoa, now... you could have stolen my breakfast." he uttered.

She put her hand on her waist and bent her right knee. "Why would I want that?"

Judging from her pose, Sweet did not want to say nothing bad.

"Never mind." He turned to Hippity. "Have you seen Spunky or Canyon? They're the only ones I haven't seen in a while."

"I think they're down in the sub-level... something about a hangar." Sweet understood and began to head there. After he turned the corner, Hippity walked up to Floppity.

"So, how do you do that—make yourself all ghostly?" Hippity asked.

Floppity closed her eyes to focus her body for a second and then reopened them when she was ready. "Okay, try and touch me." she requested.

Hippity extended his hand to her stomach, and saw that it moved straight through her body. He was loving that she could do that. She saw it on his face and lost concentration. Her ghostly façade wore off, and Hippity's hand rested on Floppity's side. Feeling his hand where it was, she found extreme comfort and blushed a little bit. She found her "comfort spot", and also that Hippity was cute to her. Hippity felt his hand a bit compressed on her side, so he quickly took his hand down, trying not to make her uncomfortable.

"I'll just go ahead and... yeah." Hippity moved elsewhere after saying that.

Floppity smiled, knowing that she now had a love interest.

* * *

Sweet heard clanging noises being heard from the doorway to the underground hangar. He entered and found Spunky and Canyon working on the advanced forms of transportation. What was odd to Sweet was that he saw two opposites working together.

"Hey guys," Sweet greeted them. They waved back. "Um, you two haven't... rumbled with each other, have you?"

"No, man..." said Spunky, as cool as can be.

"We're tight," added Canyon. "I know it's crazy to see a canine and feline like that. But I mean, come on! We're both skaters, know a thing or two about rides... nothin' to worry about!"

"Okay! I get it." Sweet responded quickly. "So, how are you guys gonna work with these... the T-Car, T-Ship and B-Jet?"

"Dotty would have to help a little bit on that," Spunky replied. "She would know a lot more about the technical stuff than we would. But in time, these babies will be good to go!"

That's just what Sweet wanted to hear. Things are looking up for him; he has eleven friends, a better Tower (now and in the future), and an easier life.

**/-/**

I'm sorry if it may not make sense right now... I'm still working things out.

When and if you choose to review this, say whatever is on your mind.


	4. Lovestruck

Chapter 4 – Lovestruck

The next day was Valentine's Day at the Academy. Obviously, lots of gifts were being given to people and secret crushes had made their presence evident. This day was also the annual celebration of the campus skatepark—for those who would rather shred the pipes than to kiss and make up. Canyon was one of those people, and he invited Spunky to join him. He gladly accepted.

"Dude, check out that halfpipe over there!" said Canyon to Spunky. It was one of the halfpipes that would usually be at the X Games-big and wide.

"We HAVE to get on that!" suggested Spunky, anxious to ride it. They ran up the stairs, and viewed the pipe from the top.

"Hey, I think we should do that move we practiced yesterday," Canyon said.

"THAT move?" Spunky asked, smiling.

"Yeah, THAT move."

"What move?" asked another student.

"Let's show him," Spunky said. Canyon nodded and moved with Spunky to set their skateboards on the lip, preparing to drop into the pipe. Dotty was watching from the side of the halfpipe.

_"Let me see..."_ she thought. The dog and cougar dropped into the pipe and started to get some airtime going while doing tricks. Dotty was monitoring this, due to a study that she wanted to do herself. She watched and saw Canyon give a signal to Spunky just after they landed from their last trick. They both grabbed their inside hands and placed their outside hands on the outer edge of their boards, maintaining the same speed. As they launched vertically, they pulled each other's hands to bring each other across; and at the same time, they span their boards in the opposite direction and somehow switched boards while each were doing 900s (two and a half spins). It was the highlight of the day, as everyone cheered wildly for their feat.

_"Oh my..."_ Dotty thought speechlessly, behind the group of roaring students. _"They switched their boards while spinning! Doing one single 900 is tough enough for a professional. I'm thinking Canyon would have thought of that, as crazy as he is. Spunky is... different to me... I dunno what it is."_

Coming through the crowd of skaters, Canyon and Spunky decided to end their skate run on a high note. Canyon rolled away from the half-pipe, while Spunky, who was psyched up after the extremely innovative trick, led Dotty with him under his arm.

_

* * *

_

Floppity had joined the gymnastics team when she first applied to the Academy. Her first session was about to be after free period, so she practiced her routine outside in a practice field. Soon, Kuku, Mystic, Fleece and Ewey came to watch her... or better yet, to be marveled by her ability. She was extremely limber.

"Oh, hey guys!" Floppity greeted, while sitting in a split and bending her back.

"...How do you do that?" Kuku asked, twitching her eyes.

"Oh, I was very good at gymnastics back at my old school. I think I'm getting better..."

"You **think**? Have you ever fallen?"

"Nope."

"You're kidding," Fleece interjected. She was also about to be in the class as well. "Mystic, do you hear this girl?"

Mystic was gazing off across the field, at Aurora. Fleece waved her hand in front of her face, but she didn't notice. She was charmed by her knight in icy armor, and it was the perfect day to be as well. Other guys had tried to give her gifts—she took them, but told the guys that she already had her eyes on another. It was Aurora. Fleece finally managed to get her attention by flicking her horn.

"What?" Mystic said.

"I'm not psychic like you, but am I sensing... a little secret crush somewhere, hmm?" Fleece teased the truth out of her, making her blush. She couldn't hide it.

"What? No...!" Mystic covered her face, trying to hide the redness in it. The other girls gathered around her to find out who it was.

"Who is it?" Ewey asked, smiling.

"Come on, you can tell us..." Floppity added.

Mystic telepathically told them that it was Aurora.

"Ah yes, such is Valentine's Day... do you have a gift for him?" Kuku remarked.

"Yes..." Mystic quietly said.

"Well, go give it to him!" Kuku edged Mystic to walk over to Aurora and give him a Valentine's display of affection.

As she was walking over, Aurora was talking with Sweet, Hippity and Mac. Soon, Sweet looked back quickly and saw Mystic slowly walking over to them. He knew what it was.

"Aurora, don't look now, but Mystic's walking this way and looking straight at you," Sweet passively alerted Aurora, who then jumped a bit.

"Wh—why at me?" he said hesitantly.

"Why do you think she really came into your room yesterday? Don't you know? I know it's been four years since you've seen her, but through all that time, I've heard bits and pieces about what she thinks of you. If she could write a book about you, she'd know that you'd love it because she cares a lot. She's turned down every guy who tried to hook up with her, FOR FOUR YEARS, dude. A normal girl just doesn't do that. You even saw that today. She was and IS holding out for you."

"Me...?" Aurora uttered, with his mouth open a little bit. Now he knew that the girl of his dreams was within his heart's reach. His friends backed away when Mystic got close. Aurora turned around, noticing his blue-eyed beauty to behold.

"H-Hi, Aurora," Mystic hesitated to say.

"What do you have there?" Aurora said, noting that Mystic had her hands behind her. Mystic used her telekinesis to show him her gift to him. It was a necklace with a medallion showing a sapphire crystal in the center of it.

"It's a charm necklace; I stashed it when you took me away from my castle. I never needed it."

Aurora had put it on with a smile on his face. He remembered that he had a gift for her as well. He took off his backpack and pulled out a big snow globe that when shaken, would show bright "flaky" particles that would eventually form into the image of a unicorn. Mystic tried that out.

"I made it myself," said Aurora. "I hope you like it." Mystic could not have imagined how much work that Aurora put into her gift, within a day. She turned to him.

"Like it...?" she started, leaning closer to him. "I love it." She hugged Aurora and closed her eyes, in content of the exchange. Aurora's heart raced, as he embraced her as well. The others saw what had happened as well.

"Looks like that went well," Mac uttered under his breath.

"Oh yeah? I wonder if you have your eyes on someone..." Hippity implied.

Mac glared at the bunny, reacting to the subject as irrelevant. "None of your business."

The bell rang, reminding everyone that school was back in session. Everyone went their separate ways, for now.

* * *

At the Sports area of the Academy, Floppity and Fleece were about to have their first gymnastics class there. Floppity knows no limit when it comes to this, and Fleece isn't too bad herself. Both girls walked into the gym.

"You two are new?" asked the woman who appeared to be the coach.

"Yes..." Fleece answered lightly.

"Go sit down where the other girls are."

There were about ten other girls sitting in a line, waiting on what the coach had in store for them. Fleece and Floppity sat with them before the coach then blew her whistle, calling them to stand at attention.

"Didn't see that coming..." Floppity murmured to Fleece.

"WHAT'S THAT?" The coach yelled at the bunny. Apparently, she was one of the tough coaches.

"Nothing...!" Floppity responded.

"I thought so." She blew her whistle again. "All right, twinkle toes! We have a big competition in less than a month, so I need the veterans to step it up on your routines. Rookies are no exception-we all compete. Do I make myself clear?"

"YES MA'AM!" The girls shouted in reply. Fleece watched the coach's actions, knowing that she could not speak in this new situation. She thought that the coach was extremely harsh.

"Jeez..." Floppity groaned.

Hearing her voice, the coach quickly marched up to Floppity. "Are you sure you don't have anything to say, missy?"

Floppity now had just about enough of the yelling. "I only ask that you ease off a bit," she suggested.

Some of the girls gasped.

"What's that?" the coach interrogated, with a twitch. It did not intimidate Floppity.

"I think that the reason why your so-called 'twinkle toes' need **step it up** is because of your yelling. I mean, not to brag or anything, but I could care less whether you yelled or not." Fleece and the girls could not believe that Floppity said all of that in the coach's face—no one had, EVER.

"So, you think you're better than them? Prove it, rookie."

"It's FLOPPITY!" she immediately replied.

Floppity climbed on the balance beam and began her classic routine. No one else could do it but her, so everyone was about to be dazzled with gradually growing amazement. First, Floppity got into a handstand and walked on her hands to the other end of the beam, and back. Then, she whipped herself around like a brakedancer and launched into the air, performing what she calls her Canadian Twister—a double frontflip with a 720° spin. It took a lot of arm strength and momentum to get her in the air and even more when she landed in the center of the beam, balanced on one foot. At that point, the coach was blown away. Following that, Floppity pivoted around to where the girls were behind her and then placed her other leg in the air behind her. When she then kicked with it, she jumped very high and pulled off a triple backflip, landing with both of her feet on the floor. The girls cheered madly for her.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like it..." said the coach. "Can you do a split? All of my girls can do that."

Coincidentally, it was the last thing that Floppity was about to do... with a flexibility twist. She bent her back Matrix-style, and slowly spread her legs into a straight horizontal line. But when her bottom touched the ground, everyone heard a crack—it was Floppity's tailbone. She yelled in pain and collapsed on her back with her eyes closed. Fleece went to her, then looked at the coach.

"Maybe you should take a chill pill... way to go, coach." Fleece said.

The coach now felt, with a change of heart, that she was being too hard on her students. None of her girls could even come close to what Floppity just did, and she was still hurt from it.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'll send for the nurse." the coach responded.

Within a moment, Hippity walked into the gym.

"Um..." he said.

"Who are you?" asked the coach.

"I'm the nurse's aide. So, who is it?" The coach pointed at where Floppity was. Hippity whistled, seeing that the patient was his playmate. He walked over and told Fleece to back away. Hippity got on his knees and leaned over Floppity, who still had her eyes closed.

"Floppity..." he called. She recognized his voice. "Open your eyes." She did so and turned red because she was very close to Hippity's face, forgetting about the pain for a second.

"Why are you—?" Floppity murmured, before the pain started to sear in when she lifted one of her legs. Hippity noticed.

"Let's get you to the nurse." Hippity picked her up with ease, as if he were picking up an empty small box—with his left arm under her upper back, and his right under her knees. The other girls were swooned over how strong he was.

* * *

Soon, Hippity carried Floppity into the clinic and rested her face-up on a bed rest. Hippity walked around to look for the nurse.

_"Where is she?"_ he wondered until he noticed a "Gone For Lunch" sign. Apparently, she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Hippity wanted to get Floppity back on her feet. So he had one option in thought. _"Oh man... guess I'm gonna have to do this myself."_ He had almost no experience with medical care, but he had to give it a try. He opened the cabinet which had many vaccinations stored in it. He hardly knew what any of them were for, so he picked one at random.

Floppity tilted her head and saw the needle he was holding. "Will that hurt?" she asked.

"Only one way to find out." Hippity responded. He used it on her lower back, hoping that it would work. It was not excruciating pain, but Floppity did feel it, giving out a quiet moan of pain.

"Just a little..." she said.

Hippity then had to think about what to do next. He remembered that the nurse had touched on a subject dealing with healing. She said that after something like a shot is applied to the patient, it may help to rub around the spot where the pain is to make sure that the fluid is moving more freely. In some cases, it can be an uncomfortable process. This was one of them because Hippity would not like to be called a pervert, as Floppity's pain is around her tail. But again, he'd try anything.

"Floppity..."

"Hmm?"

"This may sound weird, but trust me, I think it'll work. The shot should work more if... I rub the spot where it hurts to you."

Floppity's eyes quickly shifted to where her waist was and back to Hippity. She was not sure about it at first, but then she had a change of thought. She liked him, and she wanted to show it.

"Okay..." she answered, flipping over on her stomach and lowering her shorts until her tail showed, just above her hips.

Hippity then placed and began to move his hands around Floppity's tail. What had started to be weird to Floppity, turned into soothing and comfortable, as the rub felt more and more like a massage. It was the effect of the vaccine—comfort and a bit of ecstasy. She closed her eyes and smiled in this, as if she were under "hypnosis" at a spa. She began to let out moans of pleasure.

"How am I doing?" Hippity asked nervously.

"Fantastic..." she chanted, now red on the cheeks. "Lower..."

That last word stunned Hippity. "What?" he questioned, trying to see if what he heard was right.

"Lower... my hips. It's okay, I'll let you." She lowered her shorts (only) even more, this time down to where the bottom of her hips were.

Hippity became even more nervous. "O-kay... but that's as far as I go right now."

"Okay."

Hippity began again, but he did not want to look as he was touching all over her hips and white lingerie panties. It was all a part of Floppity's plan: to get Hippity to like her back. After a few moments, the task was finished. Hippity sat on the side of the bed, a little concerned about what he just did, looking at his hands. He looked back over to see that Floppity was back on her feet again, well, after seeing her pulling her shorts up. She sat next to him.

"Hippity?" she called him, seeing the look on his face.

"So, how is it?" he asked reluctantly.

"Better than a baby's bottom."

"Why'd you make me touch you so long? How come you gave me permission to—" He stopped, seeing the smile and raised eyebrow on Floppity's face. He knew then. "Oh..."

"Exactly." Floppity said.

"Well, I guess it's safe to say that you have nice, smooth hips. I'm not washing these hands for the rest of the week..."

Floppity giggled. She had him right where she wanted him now. She blushed. "Well... what do you think about my lips?" she asked, looking into his dark brown eyes. Hippity looked into her gray eyes as well, as they both slowly leaned in to kiss each other. Before they made contact, the nurse kicked the front door open and scared the two them.

"MOMMA'S HOME!" she shouted. Both bunnies leaned back onto the bed, in slight frustration because they were so close.

_"Great... that's minus 25 respect points for the nurse."_ Hippity thought.

_"I WAS SO CLOSE!"_ Floppity mentally whined. "Oh well, Hippity... can you escort me back to the locker room?"

"If you insist..." he said, standing up and extending his arms out towards her. "Hop on."

Floppity jumped into his arms and was carried into the hallway. Around halfway from the gym, Floppity realized that she did not have to be mesmerized to have feelings for Hippity. She decided to start slow by wrapping her arms around Hippity's neck and nuzzle it while being carried. He liked that.

They soon arrived in the girls locker room, and Hippity had his eyes closed, again. The girls saw them both.

"Are you two...?" Fleece started, asking if they were an item.

"Sorta." They both said. Hippity set Floppity down to stand.

"Later." Hippity said, begininng to walk off.

Floppity didn't want him to leave just yet. She turned invisible. "Wait Hippity!" she called.

He turned around, but could not see her. "Huh? Where are you?" he asked.

She appeared beside him and kissed his cheek. He turned red. Fleece was surprised.

"I... owe you." murmured Floppity, handing him a towel as a token of appreciation.

Just then, he began to adjust to being impulsive. And before Floppity was out of sight, he wanted to do one last thing. He wrapped the towel into a whip.

"Hey, Floppity..." he called with a cracked smile.

She looked back and noticed how the towel was. "Hmm? Oh, no..."

Before she could run off, he whipped it on her butt... and strangely, it was a turn-on.

All Fleece did was watch the two of them run around the girls' locker room. "Yep... that's love alright." she generalized.

/-/


	5. Wrinkle's Persistence

I got some more action, coming at ya!

Chapter 5 – Wrinkle's Persistence

The final bell rang, signaling everyone's Friday freedom to begin. Sweet was among the happiest of people about this.

"FREEDOM!" he shouted after he exited the classroom. He couldn't wait to get out of the school and start his weekend.

His old buddy, Wrinkle, stood outside the door, and he did not look too positive.

"Wait, Sweet." he uttered in a low tone.

Sweet turned to him. "What is it?"

"Remember what I said yesterday? I want you and your new friends to meet me—in front of the school, when no one else is around."

Sweet didn't understand why he wanted to talk this way. "Why?"

"Let's just say that it's about... unrecognized business." Wrinkle walked off and left Sweet confused. He had been acting very strange to him lately.

* * *

Everyone was gone from the school at 4:00PM, and Wrinkle awaited his company. Soon, Sweet and his friends walked up to him; except for Ewey, who said that Wrinkle scared her, so she took the bus to the Tower. Sweet was tired of the mysterious and random talks with Wrinkle, so he wanted to know now.

"Okay Wrinkle, what's the deal?" he asked.

"Let me tell you the truth for a minute, about me." he began, as he paced back and forth. "I'm the kind of guy that wants to get what he wants, when he wants to get it. I know that it was a contest a couple of years ago, but honestly, I wanted that watch. And now look, you have gifted people just like you, while I don't..."

"I don't understand... why are you making a big deal about this?" Sweet pleaded, still not fully on the same page.

"He's always had that problem." Spunky interjected.

"What do you mean?" Sweet asked.

"Sadly, he's my brother." Everyone was shocked at this, especially Dotty, who was the victim of Wrinkle's flirts. She didn't like him.

"You can't be serious..." Dotty said.

"I am. That's how you found me in that crowd in Los Angeles. I was tired of the fact that I lived alone for a year in San Francisco... all because of him. HE KILLED MY PARENTS!"

"That's insane!" Canyon exclaimed.

Spunky slowly moved toward Wrinkle, who had his head down.

"He's always been and always will be a bad dog! And seriously, I want it to stop. So come on, **bro**... stop being such a—"

Spunky was stopped, getting a fist smacked in his face and knocking him seven feet beside Wrinkle. The rest saw what just happened and looked back at Wrinkle differently. No normal person could hit someone that hard.

"Whether or not I have friends," Wrinkle began, slowly bringing his head up to face the others, "it doesn't matter... because I myself can take you all on!" Wrinkle stood in a combat stance, ready to contend with the people around him.

Dotty let out a battle cry and tried to kick Wrinkle, but he grabbed her leg to counter.

"Let's not get carried away." He said. "For a couple of you, I don't have any resentment, but if you mess with me, you'll get it bad." He tossed Dotty at Spunky for a head-to-head collision, knocking them both unconscious.

Canyon rushed at him next, with an electric fist. Wrinkle evaded his attack and counterattacked him DBZ-style—using swift and powerful hits. Canyon was knocked out as well. Next, Kuku and Floppity rushed in to attack at the same time, but Wrinkle even cancelled them out. Hippity jumped and tried to drop a hammer fist upon him. On impact, the ground shook and dust moved in the air. When the dust cleared, Wrinkle appeared to have defeated Hippity after blocking the fist with one hand. Those that were remaining could not believe that Hippity's strength was stopped. Wrinkle was no pushover, as Aurora was then piledriven into the dip in the ground that Hippity's force created. He did not use any energy waves or anything like it... he fought with honor.

"Seven down, four to go..." Wrinkle said.

"I only have one thing to say..." Mac murmured, "...try to keep up." He teleported in an attempt to strike from behind Wrinkle. But somehow, he appeared behind Mac. _"What...? There's no way he could have..."_ Mac and the others were startled at this, as he warped again and again, only to find the same result.

"Too slow..." Wrinkle said, before he knocked Mac out. He turned to the other three.

"Sweet," Fleece called, "there's no way that direct attacks will work. We'll have to power it up."

"All right." Sweet prepared his optical laser, while Fleece began to spin around for her Nimbus Tornado. Wrinkle caught on to this, and did something unexpected.

"So that's the way you wanna play... take this! Galick Gun!" Wrinkle fired this powerful, bright purple beam at the two of them, forcing them into the main building's wall. Mystic was left.

"Oh no..." Mystic cried in distress. She did not want that to be her downfall as well. But, Wrinkle charged it again.

"All right, Mystic. Let's see if you can actually block it. Galick Gun!"

The thought went into Mystic's mind, as the beam rushed towards her. _"I can block that?" _she wondered. She applied the best telekinetic burst force that she possibly could exert to counter the beam, slowing it down and trying not to let it engulf her. She was using every ounce of energy to defend herself.

"Just give up! You don't have enough power to escape this!" Wrinkle claimed.

Mystic was trying not to believe that, until her mind had closed up. Suddenly, a force had awakened within her and had taken over her presence. It was the Phoenix, which then held the Galick Gun in place. Wrinkle had sensed the sudden change in power. It was off the charts.

"Take it back!" the Phoenix shouted, literally throwing the blast back at Wrinkle, who avoided it. He did not want to fight this entity within Mystic.

"This is out of my hands... we'll meet again." Wrinkle said, having fled very quickly.

The Phoenix then started to unleash powerful bursts of force, enough to slowly lift the Academy's main building off of the ground.

Sweet woke up. "Whoa! What's happening to Mystic... (noticing) AND THE ACADEMY? Everyone get up!"

Eventually, the others had regained their consciousness and began to help Sweet pull the main building down. Aurora stopped and noticed Mystic, in a chaotic state. He began to try and force his way to her.

"Aurora, what are you doing?" Sweet shouted. "You're gonna get blown away if you get too close!"

"Sweet! I'm sure that I can get to her! Remember what the mythology teacher said about that spell? I know it's a myth, but I think it'll work."

Sweet understood that he loved her, taking a risk like this. "Good luck, brave soldier." he murmured.

Aurora moved to within ten feet of Mystic's body, and started to see that his clothes were ripping away and that it became harder and harder to get to her. But he would not give up. He edged closer to her (within three feet), sustaining his body from the excruiciating pressure. He managed to grasp her body by the shoulders, while his feet were off of the ground. The Phoenix began to mentally strangle Aurora, knowing his intentions. But before he choked, he squeezed her shoulders hard and released the Phoenix's mental grip. Once he did that, he said the spell, Cursis Liberatus, hoping that it would work. A thin "string" of light struck Mystic's body, to silence the Phoenix's power.

It was a success, as all of the telekinetic forces ceased and the main building fell back into place... and onto Hippity, who pulled on the building from the bottom. He popped out of the ground, just like the billboard incident years ago. "I'm okay..." he said in a trance.

Everyone moved to where Aurora and Mystic were, to see that she had regained her consciousness. She was in Aurora's arms.

"You're okay..." Aurora said, resting his head on her right shoulder.

"What happened?" Mystic murmured. Aurora did not want to explain it because he was relieved to see that she was alright.

He wanted to show it, so he told everyone to move back. "Mystic, I think there's one more gift I have to give you..."

"There is? What?" she asked.

"Just close your eyes."

She does so, and within a short pause, she felt his lips on hers. She reopened her blue eyes and closed them again, into the moment. The others were in awe and started to clap for them. After that, they went home for some much needed rest.

* * *

The next Friday at the Academy was the day that everyone receives their report cards in free period. For many students, it is a dreadful day... but for others, a joyous one. Dotty, as smart as she is, happens to be one of the happiest. She takes the most challenging classes, and still gets an A+ in every one of them. The only thing that could ruin her day was Wrinkle and his teases. Sadly, that is now the case.

"Dotty..." Wrinkle called in a light singing tone. He began to touch her as well. Spunky had noticed them from around the corner, but did not want to interfere yet. He kept close by.

"Stop touching me!" Dotty yelled, running off into the gym inside the Sports building. After what had happened last week, she acts so much up to the point to despise Wrinkle for his "deeds".

"You know, we're the only two here..." Wrinkle implied, closing the doors behind him.

"Quit it, I'm serious! Especially after last week, I don't like you!" She started to growl.

Wrinkle's smirk turned into a serious face also. "Does it look like I care?"

After saying that, he approached closer to Dotty. Suddenly, the doors they entered from had been busted open by Hippity, as a request from Spunky, who then walked into the gym.

"Wrinkle, stop it! Leave her alone." Spunky demanded, trying to protect Dotty. Wrinkle's attention turned to him.

"And if I don't...?" he asked.

Spunky then conjured wooden spikes to emerge from his body, as a sign of self-defense. "I'll make sure you do." Spunky grumbled fearlessly.

"Go ahead and try... you first." said Wrinkle, awaiting his attack. Dotty moved out to the side to get out of the way.

"I'll help you." Hippity offered.

"No, you can go... I'll fight him myself. It's time he payed for what he did to my parents. They were his too, but he didn't care one way or another."

Hippity solemnly heeded the cocker spaniel and left.

Spunky rushed in and fought Wrinkle, fist for fist. Wrinkle countered him just about every time he threw an attack. Spunky was pushed back about ten times, and Dotty was worried for him.

"Don't even think that you're ever gonna hit me easily. I know your moves, brother." Wrinkle stood fifteen yards away from Spunky.

"Bullshit! You know nothing!" Spunky shouted, getting up to try and throw as many as fifty spikes at Wrinkle... but none of them hit him. Spunky almost never missed his target, but until just then, he began to think of how he could possibly beat him.

"Just give up..." Wrinkle told him. "You won't get away anyhow."

A thought ringed in Spunky's mind after Wrinkle had spoken. _"Get away... hmm."_ Spunky thought about creating a distraction that only Wrinkle would pay attention to. "Hey Wrinkle, you know Dotty's heading for the back door, right?"

Wrinkle looked back, alerted by this. "WHAT?" he exclaimed, immediately turning his head.

His distraction worked. _"Let's see if I can do this..._ 1,000 Needles!" He shouted, firing a continuous barrage of spikes at an unsuspecting Wrinkle.

"I don't see her—" He was bombarded by the swift wooden stakes, with some of them impaling Wrinkle. Dotty witnessed this and cheered. Unable to withstand the quick onslaught, Wrinkle was down and out.

Dotty ran to Spunky. "Let's get out of here before he wakes up or before someone sees this..." she proposed.

Both moved out of the gym and walked outside of the building. Spunky couldn't believe that he defeated Wrinkle.

"I know that he may be back sometime, but does that make me the first to beat him?" he spoke.

"Well... yeah, you are. Anyways, thanks for saving me. How can I repay you?" she asked.

"You don't have to."

"Oh, but I do." She pulled his head close to her and kissed his cheek before going elsewhere. That stopped Spunky where he was, as he began to rub his cheek because she made that kiss last for four seconds.

_"Whoa... I didn't see that coming. I guess it's alright though... I sorta like her anyway."_ He kept that thought in his mind, as he went on through his day.

* * *

The principal found Wrinkle and had him plead his case. He tried to bluff his way out of the conversation, but she would not tolerate that. Because of his actions, he was to be expelled from the Academy campus in three days. And in those three days, he was forbidden to cause any trace of mischief to anyone.

Wrinkle was so infuriated at this, he couldn't help but to do one more thing. He knew that Ewey was afraid of him, but he tried the friendly approach to her. She accepted it, being told to meet him in the gym after school on the last day, before he was to be expelled.

Ewey walked into the gym that day, and waited on Wrinkle, who seemed to have a change of heart to her.

"Hello? Wrinkle, where are you?" She called for him, but there was no answer, until all lights (except for the center one) shut off in the gym. She got scared again, looking in different directions. And then all of a sudden, everything blacked out for a moment. She then saw herself on a cross of sorts, under crimson skies and a red full moon. She then saw an image of Wrinkle, who had now begun to torture her through an intense illusion. He spoke.

"In this realm, Tsukuyomi, I control all things... time, space and living mass. As powerful as I am, I am using almost all of my illusory ability to keep you in constant mental arrest by striking you continuously with this blade I hold. Although I can't regain the strength of my illusions ever again, nonetheless, there is no escape."

It was true, as Ewey's body shut down, and the mental madness continued to linger on. Wrinkle was not done yet. He created a potion of sorts that is said to stop a person's aging for 25-30 years. Ewey was now unconscious, as Wrinkle gave her the potion. His deed was a success.

"That's the last thing I'll do... for now..." Wrinkle murmured, as he walked off. _"Rest assured everyone, I will be back."_ That was his final thought, before leaving. He crossed by Fleece and Mystic, who entered the gym and found Ewey.

"Ewey... wake up. You shouldn't be sleeping..." Fleece said.

Mystic mentally traced all of the evidence. "She's not sleeping..." Mystic reported.

"What do you mean?"

"She's in a coma."

"What? No!" Fleece started to cry.

"It's true... and I'm pretty sure I know who did this to her."

"Wrinkle..." she grumbled. "If I ever see him again, I'll avenge her with extreme—"

"Fleece, Fleece... I get it. Right now, we should get her to the hospital and see if any of the doctors can heal her."

"Okay..."

They took Ewey to the hospital and left her there. As much as Fleece wanted to stay, she couldn't. It was in their hands. But she was right about one thing, Wrinkle must pay for his wrongdoings one day. Yet, she and everyone else probably won't get the chance to make that day come true.

* * *

**EXTRA SCENE!**

The Academy's gynmastics team won the contest later on. Floppity's run was perfect, all the way down to the split. No cracking at all. Hippity was in the crowd to see this. After the contest, Floppity found him sitting on a bench to wait for Mac to teleport him back to the Tower.

"Hippity!" she called. She wore a gold medal on her neck.

"Hey, a gold medal! That's great!" Hippity noticed.

"I know. Do you know what's better?" She pulled out two silver bracelets from her pocket.

"What are those for?" Hippity asked.

"For us. I want them to symbolize our relationship, you know, as... more." she told him, giving off a slight blush while speaking.

Hippity grabbed one and put it on his left wrist; she put hers on her right wrist. Floppity smiled and hugged Hippity.

"Promise me you won't lose it, okay?" she whispered to him.

"Promise. So, about this relationship... are we like, officially boyfriend-girlfriend?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Hippity started to turn red. "Should we, uh... kiss?"

Floppity blushed also. "Um... I want to, but I think that we should save that for, like, the best day. Probably one of the homecomings."

"I can work with that," Hippity responded, hugging Floppity again.

As he embraced her, he looked over to see Mac, tapping his foot on the ground.

"How long have you been there, Mac?" Hippity asked.

"Long enough... let's go." he replied with little emotion.

Both bunnies touched Mac and he warped them to Titans Tower.

/-/


	6. Stronger Through Danger

Starting here, I won't use the term "humanimal" as much. Trust me, it makes creating and reading this a whole lot easier for everyone. :)

Chapter 6 – Stronger Through Danger

With the assumed loss of Ewey, the eleven humanimals of Titans Tower had become distraught. Some mourned over Ewey, while others were bothered about Wrinkle. Even though he is now far away from them, they couldn't get over the fact that he got away with so many things, along with having the unexpected strength and devious mind to do it. And knowing that it was only a taste of what Wrinkle could do, they wanted to think of a way to be able to defend themselves against him, just in case he comes back. Sweet remembered that it was his a part of his original plan, along with bringing the other ten humanimals together.

It was the day after Ewey's incident. The remaining eleven heroes were in different parts of the Tower, trying to think of a way to make themselves better and stronger for any trial, not just Wrinkle. Sweet paced back and forth in the living room, trying to get his newfound nemesis out of his mind and trying to look for a guiding light. He then remembered that Dotty was the smartest of them all, so he went to find her in the Facility. She wasn't in the super-computer room, but he did find something interesting on one of the surveillance monitors.

_"Danger Room?"_ he wondered, as he then recognized how it looked. It was the same chamber that Dotty talked about less than a month ago. He soon found the room and entered its control center, where Dotty was sitting. She heard him come in.

"Oh, hey Sweet." Dotty greeted.

"I'm guessing you've found out what this room is for..." he remarked.

Dotty nodded. "This is the Danger Room. Don't take the name too seriously, really, it's not bad. Basically, this is an all-around, multi-purpose training field, fully designed to improve the strength of the gifts that special people possess."

It was just what Sweet was looking for... their own training grounds. "That's great! So, how does it work?" Sweet asked.

Dotty ran a program that showed how someone of higher power shows their power—it was similar to Dragonball Z's way of manifesting hidden strength (by crouching a little and pulling both arms towards the sides). "Why don't you try that out? I'm still trying to learn this myself, but I can probably get a reading on your power." she suggested.

"Okay." Sweet walked through one of the side elevators and descended down it to get inside the chamber. He stood in the center of it.

Dotty spoke through an intercom. "All right Sweet, go ahead and power up when you're ready."

Sweet nodded and then assumed the stance to show his power. He began to hum loudly, as a white aura started to appear around him. Dotty read the scales in front of her, becoming interested in this.

"Okay Sweet, you can stop." He started to pant, seeing that the power was a little hard to keep in one place. He moved back to the outlook box, where Dotty was.

"So what happened?" Sweet asked.

"Like I said before, I wanted to see if I could sample your power. It worked perfectly; the scales are understandable."

"Awesome. So, what did it read for me?" Dotty analyzed the data.

"Your power was 1,900."

Sweet was confused, even though he knew that it was a big number. "In...?" he questioned.

"Biomagnetic Energy Analysis Neurodes." Dotty answered.

Sweet had no idea what that was. "Whaaaaat?"

"BEANs, if you shorten it." Dotty clarified.

"Oh, okay. Man, this power system is crazy!"

"Well, to be honest, anyone can understand it. Even if you just read the calibers of power. Look." Sweet ducked his head in to look at the data boards.

"Calibers of power?"

"Yes. They're basically the levels of power that you can be classified within. Normal (1 - 1,499), Super (1,500 - 2,999), Ultra (3,000 - 4,499), and two others (?) that are unknown for some reason. Yours fell into the Super caliber."

**Their power system can be somewhat related to Ki Energy, chakra, or spiritual pressure. Regardless of whichever one is manifested, they all can be viewed and translated as BEANs.** That sparked an idea in Sweet's mind.

"Hey, you said that power is shown as BEANs, right?" he started.

"Yes..." Dotty responded.

"Come to think of it, I haven't really thought of a group name for the eleven of us." Dotty understood. "So how about this: we'll be... the Bean Titans."

"Hmm... the name fits perfectly. I'm with it."

"Yeah, that's good. I'll go tell everyone about it... and about the Danger Room too."

Sweet exited the Danger Room to notify everyone about the new name and new training grounds. They were all for it as well. Now Sweet was getting somewhere.

* * *

With their new Danger Room, the Bean Titans began to grow stronger. It really helped everyone, even as Sentinels attacked. Some have even learned new things.

Mac was the only one who went out to train. He used the Danger Room from time to time, but it wasn't enough for him. He flew to the Chinatown district in Houston and ran into a monk. They conversed and Mac agreed to learn Ninjutsu from him. Within a year, Mac had mastered Ninjutsu, along with learning the Gentle Fist style of combat, possessing the Byakugan (which meant perfecting the change from his red eyes to the altered clear, white ones), and using Fusion (light) Blasts.

Sweet had gained the ability to use his powers cooperatively. He could create burning webs, make his metal claws fiery, or combine his laser with fire for a flare-like effect. He has also become aware of the Spider Sense, which allows him to predict and react to oncoming dangers effectively. It has helped him very well, even as he spars against Mac and his teleportation... but Mac still beats him, sadly.

As she gets stronger, Mystic is gauging her power to know her limits when it comes to the Phoenix. She did not want to get overwhelmed by—or even worse, lose control of her power and allow the entity to take over again. Even though it it a slow process, Mystic is taking whatever measure possible to control her power. As a bonus (not really a power), she has learned to speak in Al Bhed, a foreign language that is not of their world.

Aurora, as "rounded" as he is, can now literally make his body into a weapon by crouching into a cannonball. He can spin in position rapidly (like Sonic) and dash into his targets.

Kuku had taken lessons from Mac about instant travel. Due to that, she has learned to "Smokeport"—warping instantly in her black cloud and reappearing as Mac usually does. She has also learned the basic forms of Arcane Magic/Dark Knight abilities (i.e. Darkness, Drain and Demi).

Hippity has gained control of the earth element, which makes him an even stronger fighter, but at the same time, it makes him slower. Dotty had gave him some helpful information about earth-based users. She said that difficulties regarding control of the earth element is from exponentially great tension. She added that the best way to permanently minimize it is through a thorough massage using a mixture that relieves the tension. Dotty created it for him, and he had Floppity have the honor of delivering the massage. She was more than happy to do that.

Floppity has become the elementalist/Black Mage of the group, learning the first and second levels of spellwork (Fire/Fira, Blizzard/Blizzara, Thunder/Thundara, Water/Watera, Stone/Stonera, and Aero/Aerora).

Fleece is the healer/White Mage now, as she has learned the basic spells (Cure, Esuna and Life). In relation to this, Dotty established the Healing Room in the Facility.

Canyon has finally mastered his Boltboarding skills. He has also monitored the way that Hippity uses the earth element—particularly for when he punches the ground for quakes. As daring as Canyon is, he went into the Danger Room one time to try that. The first time, he punched the ground without electricity and experienced pain in the knuckles. Dotty wasn't surprised at this. But the second time, he used static electricity and repeated the act. This time, five thin trails of lightning raced on the ground in front of him and then collided together in an explosion of sparks. Canyon called that his Thunder Fist.

Spunky can forge a shinai (kendo stick) by creating a long wooden stick from his body. The stakes, long or small, that exude from Spunky's body do not hurt him at all. He has also learned the basic forms of Time Magic (i.e. Haste and Slow).

Finally, Dotty. Managing and improving the super-computer, creating new programs, making new rooms... none of it would have been possible without her help. She has studied and picked up Taijutsu as her form of combat. Also, she is a Green Mage, learning status effect management skills like Bio, Blind, Silence and Sleep.

Things are looking up for the Bean Titans now.

* * *

Their power was about to be tested on their first real crisis, in the summer after the Bean Titans graduated from the middle school level of the Academy. Dotty gave the Titans a briefing in the new Mission Room about a Sentinel technology-powered mantis that was attacking Downtown Houston, looking for them. Everyone understood what they had to do, to terminate it before it terminated them and anyone else first. They moved there via the B-Jet to confront it. It actually screeched like a bat.

"Yo, that's too loud!" Canyon shouted.

"I know," said Sweet, "and that's why we'll shut it up... for good. Bean Titans, go!" Everyone dispersed themselves around the mechanized mantis.

For something that was as big as a small apartment complex, it moved pretty quick, knocking the Titans back, one-by-one.

"How are we supposed to stop this thing?" Hippity asked, becoming frustrated about fighting it.

"I got it!" Sweet exclaimed after dodging one of the legs. He turned his attention to Floppity. "Floppity, how strong is your leg?"

"Um... pretty strong, I guess... why?"

"Look at that piece of a metal light pole by you." There was about a two foot-long metal pipe near her. "Strap it on if you can and hit the core on its head."

"Okay..." she said, confused.

Sweet called Canyon and hopped on the boltboard with him. He told Canyon to ride circles around the mantis' "standing" legs, while he creates a web around them to eventually make the machine be forced down without any movement. It worked, but Floppity was having a tough time keeping the metal on her leg. She was standing in an open-scissor stance, with her "heavy" leg pointed to the sky while she stood on the other one.

"You need help?" Hippity asked.

"Actually, no... but this is hard." She then had an idea. "Hippity, how good is your arm?"

"Very."

"Can you throw me over the mantis' head?" Hippity wasn't sure about it at first, but then he looked at his silver bracelet. It reminded him to trust her.

"Okay." He picked her up by the sides with both hands, spun around, and launched her to where she was over the head of the mantis. Once she was there, she let go of her upward leg to then crash down on the core of the mantis with a booming leg drop, making it combust and explode in defeat. After that, Floppity couldn't wait to get the metal off of her leg.

"Great job, Floppity." Sweet congratulated her.

She looked back at him with a glare. "Don't make me do that again... it felt like my leg was gonna break off."

"Sorry..."

The Bean Titans were healed by Fleece and they all returned to the Tower, saving the day once again.

/-/

If you want to know their power levels after this training montage, here they are. They're all in the Super caliber:

Sweet (2,800), Mac (2,950), Mystic (2,750), Aurora (2,585), Kuku (2,550), Hippity (2,675), Floppity (2,625), Fleece (2,490), Canyon (2,660), Spunky (2,705), and Dotty (2,515).

If you have ANY thoughts or questions whatsoever, feel free to let me know.


	7. The Twelfth Member

Chapter 7 – The Twelfth Member

The last Monday in August arrived, and the bus stopped at Titans Tower once again. It was time for high school at the Academy, and the Bean Titans were psyched about it. Everyone soon arrived at the Academy, but they heard a different voice welcoming them.

"Good morning students," began a male voice on the intercom, "and welcome to the start of a new year at the Academy. As most of you may know, you are used to hearing Mrs. Peace's voice here. Well guess what, I am your new principal, Dr. Marc Powers. Now that I am here to manage the Academy, you all will expect some changes... as a matter of fact, fun changes that I will remind you of later in your first class. For now, mingle all you like to." The new principal seemed cool to many of the students, and they are right to think so. He is not as serious as the previous principal was.

After the students entered the building and received their schedules, they decided to mingle as Dr. Powers told them to; their first class was an hour later than usual. Sweet (age 17) walked with Floppity (15) and Mac (16) to the front office to meet the principal. He was young; he looked to be 25 years old. He wore a cap and sunglasses while sitting back in his chair, chilled out. He immediately recognized Sweet from his student roster.

"Ah, you must be Sweet Summers... Dr. Powers, at your service." He extended his hand, and Sweet shook it.

"Yes. So, how are you gonna handle things here?"

"As cool and simple as possible. Sure, I know how things are supposed to work out, since this is a HUGE school and all... but, I want to be the fun principal and give you guys a lot more freedom. So that's just what I'll do."

"I'm good with that." Sweet confirmed.

"Anything else?"

Mac stepped forward, which is completely unlikely of him. "What are your views on super-powers?" the cardinal asked.

Dr. Powers took his glasses off. "How can I put this simply... who cares?" Mac, Sweet and Floppity were surprised at hearing this. "Seriously, that's my dish on them: powers are powers, that's what I say. I think the world should be more open and welcome with them... after all, this is the Academy for the **Gifted and Talented**. What I am trying to say is, you can use them whenever and however you want... just don't destroy the school, okay? That's my only concern."

"Fair enough." Mac replied.

"Awesome. Do you have anything to say?" he asked the bunny.

"No..." Floppity responded.

"Well, you're gonna be my first little helper then. I have a new student here that wants to ride the bus with your crew. Can you show her around? She's 14—a Freshman."

He called for a female white cat, who had turquoise eyes and big hair that started blue and changed shades on down to electric blue. She wore a light blue top that matched her eyes, a blue jean miniskirt, and a pink ribbon around her neck.

"I can do that." Floppity replied.

"Wait a second..." Sweet interrupted. Strangely, Sweet thought he had seen her before. He then saw the watch on her wrist. "It is you."

"Yeah," she said, "I finally got to fly in from New York, but my parents wanted to stay there."

"The good thing is that you're here. You know, I never got around to your name... what is it?" he asked her, as the four of them walked out of Dr. Powers' office.

"Fancy Sparks."

"Cool. I'm Sweet, this is Floppity, and... where'd Mac go? Oh well, I guess you're in Floppity's hands now. I'll see you later." Sweet leaves the two girls to look for the other Bean Titans.

"Blue fits you perfectly," Floppity complimented.

"Thanks, and I like how your hair matches your skin color."

"Thank you!"

The two girls immediately became BFF's as they walked to the elevator to the fifth floor, where Fancy's first class was. Upon getting there, they saw Canyon in a trashcan, courtesy of a girl that he tried to flirt with.

_"Oh, Canyon..."_ Floppity groaned. Girls were the one thing on Canyon's mind as he continued to fly from one to the next, and get rejected again and again. He eventually gave up and moved to his new locker, tired of his bad luck with them.

"Who's that and why does he get hit so often?" Fancy asked Floppity.

"That's Canyon, another one of us. Apparently, he has no luck with girls... though he is kinda crazy. You're always welcome to meet him though."

Fancy walked up to him, while he was banging his head inside his locker. She heard him complaining.

"Umm... are you okay? Is your head stuck or something?"

He heard her voice and sighed because he did not want to get hit again. He began to slowly pull his head out. "Look, I don't want any—_whoa... jackpot_." He was completely breathtaken by Fancy, as he scanned her from top to bottom.

She didn't know what he was doing. "What? Do I have something?"

"My attention..." he murmured.

"Huh?" she questioned, trying to hear what he said.

"Never mind. So, what's your name?"

"Fancy."

"Wow... I'm—"

"Canyon." Fancy answered for him.

"How'd you know that?"

"Floppity told me."

He looked over to see the lavender bunny, who winked at Canyon. He took it the wrong way.

"Hey, what does that mean?" he asked in a fuss.

"Nothing..." Floppity said nonchalantly.

"So, is she with us?" he asked the rabbit.

"Yeah. I'm showing her around right now."

"I wanna help!" Canyon quickly spoke.

"Okay! Chill... it's like a cat got your tongue... no offense."

"None taken." Fancy responded, as the three of them walked down the hall. Canyon was five feet in front of the girls.

"You know he likes you, right?" Floppity whispered to Fancy.

"I know, I just want to play along for now." she whispered back.

/-/

Yes, Fancy is the final member of what is soon to be proclaimed as the Top 12. But wait, there's more. They have to graduate!

Review me whenever you'd like!


	8. First Impressions

Chapter 8 – First Impressions

Free period came, and everyone had continued to converse throughout the Academy.

Dotty had outclassed a group of genius seniors called the LEET Geeks. Even though they revered her, she thought they were overrated. Unlike Spunky, they did not have any girlfriends. Too bad for them.

Meanwhile, Kuku ran into twin birds that had long, sword-like beaks.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" yelled one of them.

Kuku did not take that too lightly, seeing as they bumped into her on purpose. "Just who do you think you are, you one-eyed freaks?" she fussed.

Both of them stopped and looked back. One did not have his left eye, and the other didn't have his right. "We're the Beaks," they both exclaimed, posing.

Kuku sweatdropped and narrowed her eyes. "Freaks... once again." she murmured.

They were insulted by her reiteration. "Brother, I think it's poke time." The other bird nodded as they quickly began to poke their beaks at Kuku. They were quite sharp.

"Ow! _They're like knives..._" As the cut-fest continued, Mac warped in.

"Hey, leave her alone..." Mac subtly said to the twins, who then turned their attention to him.

"Be careful what you wish for, Freshman." warned one of them.

"I'm not wishing, I'm demanding." Mac looked at them with the serious glare of his red eyes.

"Should we give him the X-Blade?" asked one Beak to his brother.

"We should."

They crossed their beaks together, and charged up some energy to shoot an "X" from their beaks at Mac. Other students backed up, as it seemed like they hit him.

"Did we get him?" asked one of the Beaks.

"Why don't you turn around and find out?" Mac's voice was heard behind the twins, as they turned around to see his wing in front of their faces. Mac fired a Fusion Blast upon them, forcing them down the hallway in defeat. It was the first time Kuku saw Mac's blast.

"Mac... when did you learn that?" Kuku asked him.

"Two months ago."

"Thanks for saving me." Kuku was then perplexed about a certain rule. "Wait, I thought that we couldn't use our powers freely here..."

"The new principal changed that. Don't worry, I won't go mentally insane with it." Kuku then looked at Mac in a thought. "What?" he uttered, a bit bothered by why she was looking at him.

"You're talking more... mostly to me."

"So, you'd prefer that I shut up?"

"No!" she sighed. "Tell you what, I think that we should start dating to get to know each other more and to help you open up a bit more."

At first, Mac was against the idea of it, but he remembered the weird vibe he felt from Kuku a couple of years ago. He wanted to know what it was.

"All right, I guess... but don't expect me to do too much with this."

"That's fine with me." Kuku smiled.

* * *

Mystic was tired of carrying all of her books. Eventually, she found her locker and began to stuff them in there. A group of popular students stood on the other side, eyeing Mystic for potential. They were impressed, especially the guys.

"Whoa! Who's that?" said one of the guys, scanning the unicorn from afar.

"I dunno, but she's hot..." answered another one.

The girls of the group were not that impressed.

"She's obviously a Freshman; she's not all that," proclaimed one of them, as the rest of the girls agreed with her.

One of the guys (the jock) wanted to make a move on Mystic, but what he and the group didn't know was that Mystic heard everything.

"Um—" he began to say.

Mystic stopped him by raising one of her hands to his face. "Don't ask, okay. I already have a boyfriend." The jock was surprised that she knew what he was going to say.

"But... how'd you—"

"I'm psychic." Mystic turned to the girls. "Oh, and by the way girls..." Mystic pushed them all back to the lockers with telekinesis. "I AM all that."

She walked off, before one of the now jealous girls tried to ambush her. Luckily, Aurora walked by.

"Freeze!" he shouted at the girl, who then stopped her action. Aurora smirked. "No, seriously, freeze." He blew icy breath upon the girl and turned her into a human popsicle. Mystic walked off with Aurora, arm in arm.

"Um, I think that's her boyfriend..." assumed one of the jocks.

"YA THINK?" shouted the rest of the group to his dumb comment.

* * *

After the school day was over, the Bean Titans welcomed Fancy into their home. They discovered that she had electrokinesis like Canyon does, but the difference was that her lightning appeared white instead of gold. They also found that she was pretty reflexive after running one of the simulations where the hero had to dodge as many attacks and obstacles as possible. She had great control of her powers. Canyon was more amazed than the rest of the group.

"Wow, she's good." Sweet said, after the simulation ended.

"Good? She's amazing..." Canyon rephrased, charmed by Fancy. He danced out of the Danger Room.

"Is he okay?" Spunky asked, worried about Canyon's episode.

"He's fine." Floppity replied, smiling.

Fancy walked into the control space. "How'd I do?" she asked.

"From what I see, you're doing great." Dotty stated. "I'll explain this part to you later: your power level is 2,650, in the Super caliber." Fancy looked at the charts, and she understood them.

"Oh, okay. What next?"

"Aurora, why don't you show her how to create her room down in the Suites?" Sweet proposed.

"Sure." Aurora answered, escorting Fancy to the Suites.

* * *

Dotty shut the Danger Room down for the night.

"Everyone," she called on the intercom, "I have something else to show you. Come to the room on the left side of the grand living room."

Everyone listened and moved to the westernmost room from the living room. The whole room was empty, except for a big theater screen in the front. Now, they noticed a few couches facing the screen and several shelves towards the back of the room; one of them had blue scan disks levitating on the rows. There was also a small blue video camera-like monitor hovering around the room.

"What happened in HERE?" Sweet asked, surprised.

"It got an upgrade," Dotty responded.

Kuku noticed the monitor floating around the room. "What is that, moving around?" Kuku said with her French accent.

"I'll explain. This is now the Memory Room, due to a program I created myself. It's called Trace. What the program does is that it tracks down every Titan's memories or past experiences and saves it on a disk like those over there. The job of the monitor here is to scan the disks, link itself to the screen, and display times of the past for viewing purposes. It works perfectly and precisely, without fail, even at this very moment. Just watch."

Another disk appeared on the first shelf. The monitor scanned it, moved to where the screen was, and landed in a compartment. It then disappeared, causing the event to show up, starting from where the Bean Titans walked into the Memory Room. They were impressed with this.

"That's awesome!" Sweet shouted.

Mac walked out of the room with his head down. He understood what the room was for, but he did not want to physically see his painful past.

"What's wrong with him?" Mystic questioned, crossing her arms.

Kuku looked worried. "Who knows?" she responded.

Mystic looked at her. "I was asking **you**."

"What do you mean by that?" Kuku imposed, trying to hide something.

"You're obviously trying to get through to him, and every time you tried, he hasn't laid a feather on you. Whatever it is, he'd wail on us if we accidently pushed his buttons. I was thinking that you would know that by now. So, what's up?"

Kuku had slowly started to become trapped between what she should and should not do. If she knew what Mac's problem was, she should tell the rest of the Titans... but at the same time, she shouldn't because that would hurt not only herself, but Mac as well because those are his secrets. Nevertheless, she knew that Mystic was right. Kuku had to say what she had to say.

"Okay." Kuku began. "I really don't know what Mac's problem is, and I don't intend on finding out so soon—I'll let him do that on his own."

"You're still not telling us the full scoop," said Aurora, reading her facial expression. "What else is there?"

Kuku sighed. "I didn't tell him my side of this, but, I requested that the two of us should start going out to get him to open up more and stop being so self-defensive."

"And... what is your side of the deal?" Aurora added.

"Even though he's adamant, I may even like him." The Titans were surprised at this.

"That's gonna be intense..." Canyon said.

"But if Mac hasn't hurt her since a few years ago, maybe she has a chance. If she can do it, hey, kudos." said Sweet, who then looked at the time. It was 11:00pm, so the Bean Titans decided to go to bed.

/-/

PLEASE, let me know how I'm doing, or at least ask me your questions.

We're going to head into Year 2.


	9. Sophomore Year

Chapter 9 – Sophomore Year

**_Preface_**

After Freshman year, the lives of the Bean Titans had positively expanded.

Though he is making slow progress, Canyon is beginning to know Fancy more. He has fallen short on a couple of jokes before, but he still has a chance with her.

While dating, Mac had taught Kuku how to utilize the Gentle Fist style to fight and how to use Fusion Blasts. Using the blasts, Kuku's are imbued with dark energy. In turn of this, Kuku managed to get Mac to open himself up more. And strangely, he has become somewhat adjusted to the dates.

All six girls of the Titans are on the cheerleading team now. Gymnastics was going to be with Floppity forever, so that's why she dropped it.

Sweet finally claimed that he and the other eleven Titans were to be the Top 12 because they are the first and best heroes to ever be Titans thus far. Another reason for this is because that other humanimals have joined to become Bean Titans as well.

First was Scorch Fox—a dragon, age 14, hailing from Scotland. He was a foot taller at most than the rest of the Bean Titans. Scorch did everything that a typical dragon could do: fly, breathe fire and crush foes. Unless Scorch was in combat, he was a gentle dragon... well, with the exception of his tail. One whack with that, and the victim would be sent flying to the other side of a football field. It's that strong. He joined the football team with Sweet, Hippity, Canyon, Spunky and Aurora; Mac was the referree.

Next was Pouch Thornberry—a kangaroo, age 13, from Sydney, Australia. She was actually a boxer back home, but she was not too strong with her arms. Truthfully, she fought more with her legs because they were stronger. She found herself one day where a car was speeding towards her. She thought of jumping out of the way, and it turned out that she literally bounced fifty feet into the air and landed, unharmed. That's her story.

Then there were a duo of owls, Wise and Wiser Ops—both 18, from Virginia. They are not much of fighters, but (judging from their names) they are pretty smart. They assist Dotty with all of the technological things.

Finally, a pair of penguins swam in from Antarctica: Waddle Swift and Mira Smalls—both 16 and a couple-to-be. Just like Aurora, they know their way around ice and how to control it. As a plus, both penguins can slide on any surface, as if it were ice.

18 Bean Titans now. But our main focus is still on the Top 12.

**_End Preface_**

Part A: Eluding Darkness

Halloween in Sophomore year was the most frustrating day for Canyon because he had accumulated six extra tests ON THE SAME DAY. Sadly, he was still quite the class clown. He would much rather be outside for the evening, going trick-or-treating.

By about 7:30pm, Canyon finished his grueling work, stormed out of the classroom and baseball slided on the floor.

"Finally free!" he shouted.

His burst of enthusiasm quickly faded as the Academy's power mysteriously shut down. No lights were on at all.

"Aw, man..." Canyon complained, standing in the now dark halls of the school. He was on the top (15th) floor as well. He tried to turn on his communicator watch, but it wasn't working either. Luckily, he could light up a spark to see through the halls.

He found one of the elevators and used surges of his own electricity to power the elevator. He used enough to get him down to the 8th floor. It was good enough for him, as he exited and sat down, trying to wait on his energy to recharge. Soon, he suddenly heard a closet door near him, shaking while closed.

"Who's there...?" he asked, as if he was a part of a Halloween prank. He pointed his spark around and saw the moving door. He slowly opened with gaining fear... and then heard a scream. He yelled as well, until he saw who was in the closet.

"Fancy?"

The white cat sat in the closet, moving her chest to her halted breathing. She calmed down when she saw Canyon. "Canyon?"

"What're you doing here?"

"Hiding..."

"From what?"

Suddenly, the closet door slammed into the back of Canyon's head and knocked him unconscious upon Fancy.

"Canyon!" Fancy cried, before hearing quiet footsteps approaching, getting louder and louder as they got closer. Her fear grew again, until she saw another familiar face. It was Mystic.

"Fancy?"

"Mystic..." Fancy uttered, relieved.

Mystic then began to guess, seeing as Canyon was positioned on Fancy. "Wait a minute, Canyon? ...Were you two just doing something in here?"

Fancy quickly blushed. "No, no, no! I think you knocked him out with the door."

Mystic actually did use telekinesis to push the door. "Oh... my bad."

The two girls then took Canyon with them, out of the Academy's main building. Fancy used her electricity to get them out and bring Canyon back to his senses. They found the power switch and restored the Academy's power. Mission accomplished.

* * *

Part B: Homecoming... a Time for Love

The following week (on Friday) was the Academy's Homecoming. It is a tradition there that if a couple were to show up, one could not see their date after school was over until they get to the dance. For the Top 12, here was the plan: Sweet, Hippity, Canyon, Spunky and Kuku would wait on Fleece, Floppity, Fancy, Dotty and Mac. Aurora and Mystic were nominated for Homecoming Prince and Princess.

The Atrium (the Academy's huge cafeteria) was cleared away and replaced with a club-like setting—with a dance floor, disco ball, and a mixmaster set (with a DJ) of course. Spunky was also to be one of the soloists for the slow song that was planned to play during the "big number" after the Homecoming Court was to be announced; he played a tenor saxophone. There were already people meeting and dancing. Sweet, Hippity, Canyon, Spunky and Kuku walked in from the front of the Atrium. Sweet had on an all black suit. Hippity wore a formal tux. Canyon wore what he calls his "Monkey Suit"—a white tux shirt under a bright blue jacket with matching pants, wearing a red bowtie. Spunky had on a black dress shirt and black pants, with his sax on his neckstrap. Kuku had on a white dress to match her white beret.

"Dude, this place is packed!" Canyon started.

Dotty walked up, wearing a blue sequin dress.

"Hey Dotty. You look nice." Spunky complimented.

"Thank you." Dotty responded.

Spunky looked over, behind Canyon, to see a sight that he needed to see. "Hey Canyon... don't look now, but here comes Fancy." he told him.

Canyon looked back and had nearly jumped out of his suit upon the sight of his date.

_"Sweet Barbecue on a Stick...!"_ Canyon said to himself. Fancy wore a sheath dress in her favorite color, electric blue. She walked up to Canyon, looking at him with a tantalizing stare. Canyon became nervous, shaking a little bit because it was a "sexy stare" to him.

"Canyon..." Fancy called, seductively.

"Y-Yeah?" He stuttered.

"Are we gonna dance or what?"

He couldn't wait to dance with her. "Yes! Come on!" Canyon shouted, taking Fancy by the hand to the dance floor. Spunky and Dotty followed.

"Where's Flop?" Hippity asked Sweet, wondering where she was.

"Right here..." Floppity slowly appeared beside him, wearing a rose-red dress. Spunky played a short sensual tune to express her appearance. She looked more than good enough to run for Homecoming, but she did not want to have that kind of name for herself.

_"Oh, mama... talk about a lady in red."_ Hippity thought to himself.

"Wanna dance?" she proposed. Hippity escorted her to the dance floor as well.

Kuku had taken a seat, after waiting 20 minutes for Mac.

"Where's Mac?" she said to herself. "If he did show up, knowing him, I bet that he's dressed—"

Mac suddenly warped in front of her, wearing navy blue all over.

"—pretty decent." she finished saying.

"Okay," Mac started, "I'm telling you now, 1) this is isn't my style... and 2) I won't dance much."

Kuku crossed her arms, being a little tired of his complaining. "I have two things for you, too. 1) That's not the first thing you say to your date. And 2) Don't be so serious—cut loose... at least do a slow dance with me."

Mac felt the vibe again. "All right..." he said, as the slow music began to start. Mac sighed, before taking Kuku with him to dance.

Everyone was with someone... well, except Fleece, who looked around at everyone else. She had on a gold dress.

Canyon noticed her standing out. "She's looking like a dunce out there..." he said.

Sweet heard him, and decided to help her out. "I'll dance with you." Sweet offered.

"No, you don't have to—" Fleece was interrupted, as Sweet placed his left hand on her waist and his right with her left hand.

"Just make it look good." Sweet started to sway Fleece and himself left and right to the tune. This was not the first time that he helped Fleece out.

_"He's being so nice... as if he likes me or something. *gasp* Did I just think that...?"_ She began to wonder if that was the case with Sweet.

The song ended, and Sweet dipped her. "I didn't want you to just stand there..." Sweet said, bringing her up again.

"Thank you..." Fleece replied, with a light blush.

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!" yelled the DJ, preparing for an announcement. Everyone's attention was on him. "Now, for the moment you've been waiting for... everybody, get down on the dance floor for your new Homecoming Court!"

The students in attendance cheered wildly for them, as the winners approached. A total of eight people walked down the stairwell; a pair of Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. The Sophomores (Homecoming Prince and Princess) were Aurora and Mystic. Aurora wore a white suit; Mystic (overdoing it) had on a rainbow tye-dye dress and had her long hair dyed in a similar colored style. The other Bean Titans were happy that they won, as the "big number" played.

The last song had soon finished, meaning that Homecoming was over... but the night was just beginning, as the Homecoming Court was being escorted by a limousine to the beach for the after-party. Anyone else who wanted to come was welcome to. Most of the Bean Titans planned on following them.

Canyon and Fancy sat down for a little while, on a bench.

"So, you have a good time?" Canyon asked his date.

"Yeah." Fancy responded. She then felt that she was ready to stop the charade because she liked him as well. "You know Canyon, you're really a cool guy... but, there's just one thing that's on my mind."

"What?" asked Canyon.

Fancy crossed her legs and leaned a bit closer to him. "We've never really... kissed."

Canyon couldn't show his happiness on the outside because he did not want to seem too eager... so he turned a little red instead. "Well... it wouldn't hurt to try it out."

Both felines started to lean in for each other's lips, but before they made contact, their hands came together and a spark show went off through them.

"What?" Fancy uttered.

"That is COOL... hey, what if our—" Canyon stopped when he saw her stare at his amber eyes again with her turquoise ones.

"Shh..." she whispered to him, with a hand over his mouth. She removed her hand, closed her eyes, and leaned in for definite lip contact. Canyon played along as well, putting his arms around her back. After a few seconds, they slowly backed away, smiling at each other. They then got up and began to walk over to the car that Hippity rented for the night. It was a convertible black Ford Mustang.

Speaking of Hippity, he and Floppity were in the car, listening to some last-minute music with the top off.

"I had a great time tonight." Floppity said.

"Ditto." Hippity answered, before it started to rain. Floppity was trying to protect her dress.

"Ooooh! Hip, can you close the top?" she requested.

"Actually, I have a better idea." He moved his right ear—which always hung parallel to the ground—over Floppity's body, protecing her from almost all of the rain.

"Oh..." Floppity murmured with emotion, in turn of his action. She thought it was sweet of him to do that, as she leaned on his shoulder. Then suddenly, she starts to cry.

"Floppity, what's wrong?"

"It's my so-called father... I don't think he ever loved me or my mom. There should be a video in the Memory Room about it, if you want to know what happened. But... the point is, I've never had anyone like you, Hippity." She started to tear on his shoulder again.

Hippity embraced her, understanding where she was coming from. "Floppity, it's okay. You're always gonna be safe with me."

While hugging her, he looked at both of their silver bracelets. He decided that it was time to take their relationship to the next level. He raised her chin up with his finger, so that she was eye level to him. He looked into her gray eyes and then leaned in to kiss her passionately. She felt his lips on hers, and felt the emotion that he shared with her. She wrapped her arms around his neck with equal passion. Hippity closed the top while they were still in contact.

Canyon and Fancy noticed that the top closed on the Mustang, so they wanted to see what was going on. They peeped through the windshield to see both bunnies making out. Floppity noticed that they saw this, and told Hippity about it. He stopped and let the top open again so the felines could get in. They drove out to pick up Spunky and Dotty, to see that they tried to sneak a quick kiss from the rest.

"I guess we aren't the only ones..." Hippity implied. Both canines blushed.

"Hop in," Canyon said, "we saw everything already."

Hippity drove to the after-party after the Spunky and Dotty jumped in.

* * *

Part 3 - Late Night Hint

Mac and Kuku went to bed after Homecoming was over. Both birds knew that while they were dancing, it was certain that they had hidden feelings for each other. But unlike Kuku, Mac did not know how to express them.

Sweet escorted Fleece to her room after the after-party.

"Thanks for hanging with me, tonight." Fleece said.

"Don't sweat it," Sweet replied. They both stood there for another few seconds in silence. "Um, aren't you gonna... hit the hay?"

Fleece rushed in and hugged Sweet before doing so. He did not know what it was for, but he liked it.

"Okay..." he said to himself, walking to his room to call it a night.

/-/

PLEASE, let me know how I'm doing, or at least ask me your questions.


	10. A Spring Fling

This will be a short chapter, but still, a part of the story.

Chapter 10 – A Spring Fling

It is springtime in Senior year—March 21st to be exact. It was Fleece's 20th birthday, and one of the present requests on her list was Sweet. She had feelings for him, but she wanted to be sure that he really does have them for her as well, before she reveals them in person. So she tried a "classic" move... slipping a letter into his locker, revealing some (if not all) of her feelings for him, and moving to another location so that Sweet would not find her.

Five minutes after she put her plan into action, Sweet approached his locker.

"All right, books," he spoke with special effect. "It's you, me— *eyeing the letter* and a note?" He reads the paper and gets a jolt in his mind. He now knew that Fleece liked him, so he decided to send a reply into her locker.

Later on in the day, Fleece went up to her locker, found the note that Sweet sent, and nearly had an "accident downstairs". She read that Sweet does like her, and seeing that there is a trend going on, she sends another one to him. When she left, Floppity appeared by her locker and started to think about what was happening.

Later on (again...), Sweet read her second love letter and replied to that one as well. Before he left his locker, he kicked what looked to be a volleyball. He did not know that it was Aurora, who then rubbed his back in pain.

Soon, the rest of the crew caught up to them.

_"ANOTHER one? I didn't know he cared that much..."_ Fleece thought. "I gotta send another back—"

Floppity appeared, snagging the piece of paper from Fleece. "To whom?" she asked. The other girls showed up as well.

"Come on, you can tell us!" urged Dotty.

"No I don't..." Fleece said, trying to avoid spilling the beans. Unfortunately, Mystic was psychic.

"It's Sweet! Aww..." Mystic teased.

"Cut it out..."

_"Hey Kuku, Sweet's coming. Put the blindfold on him."_ Mystic plotted. Kuku flew around the corner, found Sweet and told him to put the blindfold on and follow her. Kuku led him to his locker, which was where he was going in the first place. He took a book out of it, since he could not find a response letter. When he closed the locker, Spunky was on the other side.

"Whoa... don't do that, man!" Sweet jumped.

Mac warped in, before the rest of the guys showed up. "Why do you come to your locker so much?" he interrogated.

Aurora picked up one of the old letters. "It's Fleece..." he said, before he turned to the girls of the Top 12. "Hey girls! Did you know that—?"

"Yes, we know." Kuku interrupted. Then the nonsense began.

"Oh, really?" Hippity asked, bulging one of his eyes.

"Ya, really!" Dotty responded.

"NO WAY!" Fancy entered on the joke.

"YA WAY!" Spunky answered.

"No, seriously..." Mystic crossed her arms.

"Yah, seriously." Mac said, warping in front of her face.

"Shut up!" Aurora exclaimed, before rolling on the floor, laughing.

Sweet was tired of it. "ENOUGH!" he shouted, as everyone cut the joke. "Okay, so now you know. What now? You expect us to kiss and make-up now?"

"YES!" the group said unanimously.

Fleece walked up to Sweet.

"Well, majority rule..." she said before she lip locked with Sweet. The dismissal bell rang.

/-/

And another day went perfectly.

Graduation is next.


	11. Away For Awhile

Chapter 11 – Away For Awhile

**WARNING: TIMESKIPS ARE USED.**

Part 1 - Graduation

All of the Academy's seniors sat in the grand ballroom of a local hotel in white robes, awaiting the words of sending to live their much needed lives. When those words were spoken by Dotty (the valedictorian), everyone threw their hats in the air, in celebration of graduation. Well, Mac wasn't so enthusiastic, as he still had his hat on. Kuku found him.

"Mac, why didn't you take your hat off?" she asked.

Mac looked at her and then grabbed his hat, held it beside him, and dropped it. "Happy now?" he grumbled.

Kuku was concerned for his deadbeat attitude. "Come on, it's graduation! You should be happy!"

"Sure..." he rolled his eyes.

Kuku was tired of being patient with him. "All right. Maybe this will help." She put her wing behind his head and brought it in with hers. She kissed him so suddenly for a couple of seconds. "How about now?"

He paused for a little bit. "You should've done that at hello." He leaned into her this time, to continue with the kiss. This was the true form of the vibe he was feeling from Kuku—it was his inner feelings for her desperately trying to get out.

"_So, she did it... _Hey lovebirds!" Sweet called from the B-Jet. They looked to him. "Are we leaving, or what?"

Mac and Kuku boarded the jet, as it then flew off for Titans Tower. Dotty was piloting. Sweet wanted to make an announcement.

"Top 12, listen up. I know everyone may not want to go, but I was thinking that we may go and see what the Academy's College Campus has in store for us. Me, I want to go for four years and graduate... but I'd like it if all of us, including the other six Bean Titans, would go there just for a weekend this summer."

Everyone, regardless of time constraints, agreed to it.

"Seriously, guys?" he inquired.

"Yeah, you're like the leader to us," Canyon implied.

"And wherever you go, we'll follow." Mystic added.

"Thanks, everyone." Sweet responded, as they soon arrived back at the Tower.

* * *

Part 2 - WRINKLE RETURNS!

In mid-July, the Top 12 had decided to visit the College Campus in northern Texas. They left the Tower in the care of the other six Bean Titans. Just in case the Tower became "old", Dotty built sanitation droids to take care of it. Anyway, the Academy that they attended before was like a college in itself... but this campus could be portrayed as its own city. In all likelyhood, it was half as big as Downtown Houston. Tall buildings, a big park, lots of restaurants... yeah, you get the picture.

The Top 12 took a visit to the dean, Roger Powers. He was a man in his 50s, wearing an executive suit.

"Hello!" he greeted with a welcoming smile. "How may I help you?"

"Hi, you're the dean, right?" Sweet asked.

"Yes, I am Roger Powers. My son, Marc, is the principal at the Academy in Galveston. You must be the Bean Titans... my son has told me a lot about you."

"He has?" Mystic exclaimed.

"Oh yes, you're the big heroes. So, what can I do for you?"

"Okay. The twelve of us haven't decided on this yet, but I think that we can come to a final decision on whether or not we'd want to attend school here for another four years." Sweet explained.

"And what do you have in mind?" Roger asked.

"I propose that we could stay here for this weekend, to see what this college has for us... well, not that we wouldn't know already."

"Oh, yes. You're more than welcome to stay as long as you would like to. Just let me know your group decision before you leave."

"We'll do that, thanks." Sweet said, as he and the other 11 Titans left.

Within a few hours, the Top 12 had gotten situated into various dorm rooms throughout the main campus building. It towered thirty stories tall.

"Another day, another—" Sweet uttered, before feeling a sudden shake in gravity. Via wristwatch, he called the other eleven to meet him in the lobby.

"Please tell me that was either Mystic or Hippity..." he wondered.

They both answered negatively, as another tremor was felt.

"Mystic, what's going on?" Sweet asked her. Mystic mentally scanned the area and then gasped at the results.

"What is it?" Aurora asked.

"You're not gonna believe me if I told you who it was."

"WHO?" Sweet urged.

"A gang of humanimals... led by Wrinkle." Mystic answered. This shocked many of the Titans, except for Fancy because she did not know who he was.

"Who's that?" Fancy asked.

"Apparently, he's our worst enemy, and my nemesis." Sweet replied. "He's this bulldog, with a couple of folds in his back. The last time we really saw him was back in middle school... and he literally threw us around like trash. I know that the twelve of us are stronger now, reaching the Ultra caliber, but still... I don't know what to expect from that guy now."

"Well, if we keep standing here, we're about to find out," Mac summated.

"You're right. Where are they now, Mystic?"

"They're in front of the main building, waiting for us I bet."

"All right. Prepare yourselves, everyone. Titans, go!"

The Top 12 soon made their way to the front entrance of the main building and found Wrinkle and his entourage. Standing around Wrinkle were nine of his associates: the Beak twins, Burn and Bruno (male dogs), Blackie (male black bear), Sammy (female tye-dye bear), Snort (red bull), Daisy (cow), and Sheets (aardvark in a ghost's façade).

"Well, well... if it isn't Sweet and his crew. Small world, huh?" Wrinkle started, crossing his arms with a smirk.

"Wrinkle," Sweet growled. He was the last person that he wanted to see again. "Why are you here?"

"Well, to start... Spunky already told his story, so I think it's only fair that I tell one of mine."

"Shoot." Sweet allowed him to, even though he did not want to hear it.

"All right then. Oh, by the way, (to Fancy) hey, new girl." Fancy hisses at Wrinkle. "Glad to see your on his side. Anyways, the story. After I was expelled, I traveled west on my own policy of Manifest Destiny: if anyone were to get in my way, well, you've seen and felt the results. Eventually, I had come across this place called Area 51 in Nevada, exhausted from the heat of the desert. I wanted to see if I could get in, but the patrol officers would not let me. As frustrated as I was then, I remembered my view of Manifest Destiny and... let's just say that it was a **permanent** evacuation drill. No man... was left behind."

The Titans were horrified by this, especially Dotty, whose father was there.

"You're sick Wrinkle..." Sweet muttered.

"Who said I was done with the story? After clearing off the face of the research facility, I built my own headquarters with a purpose: to help underprivileged humanimals live their life with malicious purposes... which brings us to here and now. The people you see around me are just a taste of what's to come in the future, an evil syndicate—or a society of rebels, if you please. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Sweet paused for a moment, tapping into his inner leader. "Well then, it never hurts to try! Titans, go!" They rushed in for a 12-on-10 battle.

_BATTLE 1:_ Spunky, Dotty, Canyon and Fancy vs. Burn and Bruno. Though the odds are in the Top 12's favor, Burn and Bruno are a tough duo to fight. Together, they are virtually formidable, as they both move at high speeds and know moves similar to Wrinkle's. The end result: no one was left conscious, as Fancy raised her Lightning Wall—a shield of electricity that can repel attacks—against both dogs, who rushed in with Dark Spheres (orbs of darkness). The impact blew all six of them away.

_BATTLE 2:_ Mac and Kuku vs. the Beaks. Both birds had moved swiftly to take down Kuku. But Mac had an ace in the hole.

"Give up, cardie (short for "cardinal")! You can't stop us." proclaimed one of the Beaks, as they both charged for him.

"On the contrary, you can't stop me." Mac responded, closing his eyes. _"Byakugan!"_ He reopened his now white eyes, with bulging veins around the temples. He easily evaded their sharp beaks, and then struck both of them with a precise blow to one of their fatal pressure points, causing their defeat. Mac returned his eyes to normal. "Too easy."

_BATTLE 3:_ Floppity vs. Sheets. Due to having the same powers, this was a draw... enough said.

_BATTLE 4:_ Hippity vs. Snort. Like Sweet, Snort was fire-based.

"Ready to get burned?" Snort asked, charging in with Flame Rush—a tackling assault while enflamed. Hippity stood where he was, so that when Snort got close enough, he stomped the ground, causing a wall of rock to rise. Snort crashed into it and then got slammed into the ground by Hippity.

"No, but are YOU ready for pain? Meteor Break!" Hippity shouted, with a punch to Snort's sternum. The attack was strong enough to not only knock the air out of Snort, but it also drove him four feet into the ground.

An easy win for Hippity.

_BATTLE 5:_ Aurora and Mystic vs. Blackie and Sammy. A couples' fight.

"Blackie, let's give them the Rock Storm," proposed Sammy. She spoke of their combination attack consisting of Blackie's geokinesis (like Hippity) and Sammy's power kicks. Blackie conjured a giant rock, and Sammy would deal a crushing kick to it, causing a barrage of raining rocks to fall upon their enemy.

Fortunately, Aurora and Mystic could counter that, with their combo, Glacial Rush. Aurora would use the water in the atmosphere to create a spiraling blizzard, while Mystic would force it towards their target. The clash ended in a draw, as all four of them were hit by each other's attacks.

_BATTLE 6:_ Fleece vs. Daisy. Daisy was sort of a Black Mage also, only her water spells appeared as milk. She casted Waterga upon Fleece, who then casted Reflect on herself to send the spell right back as Daisy. Fleece added on a Holy (light) spell, defeating Daisy.

_BATTLE 7:_ Sweet vs. Wrinkle.

"All right Sweet, let's see what you've learned in over five years. Galick Gun!" Wrinkle fired his signature blast.

Sweet countered it with a bigger optical laser. "Enough to fight you." Sweet responded, causing Wrinkle to cancel his blast.

"We'll see."

Wrinkle then used his Flash Step—a quick dash in which the opponent may not get a chance to react to. Fortunately, due to training with Mac, Sweet was able to catch on to his quick movements and block his attacks.

"Now who's too slow?" Sweet taunted.

"Grr... all right. No more games."

Wrinkle jumps and hovers in the air, powering up in an effort to fire a great Galick Gun upon Sweet. Sweet saw what he was doing and powered up as well, to counter his blast with his Heatblast—a fire version of Solarbeam. Both had fired these souped-up blasts and caused an explosive wave to consume everyone in the vicinity. Dust had flown everywhere. As it cleared, both Sweet and Wrinkle were panting, after putting much of their power into those attacks.

_"I wish that he'd just go away..."_ Sweet thought.

_"How is he strong enough to contend with me? There's no way! Maybe it's time that I do some improving myself..."_ Wrinkle wondered, as his entourage then snapped out of unconsciousness. "Not bad, Sweet... but, this is only the beginning. We shall meet again... and the next time we have a battle this big, we'll finish this." Wrinkle and his gang quickly fled.

Sweet dropped on his knees and had his fist on the ground. The rest of the Top 12 gathered around him.

"Why did he have to come back?" Sweet angrily murmured.

"I don't know," Mystic started, "but for the safety of the campus... I think that we** have** to stay for four years here." Everyone agreed on that and told the dean about it.

The Top 12 came back to the Tower to heal up, take more of their stuff to load on the B-Jet, and go back to the Academy's CC on the next day. Wise and Wiser also decided to come with them.

* * *

Part 3 - Fleeting Reminiscence

While attending the College Campus, Sweet looked at the Hall of Alumni there and came across a humanimal (dalmatian) named Lucky. The text under his image read that he was the CC's first hero. He was able with ice (cryokinetic), like Aurora. Sweet wanted to get a chance to meet him one day.

After four years, the Top 12 graduated from the CC, without any trouble from Wrinkle or anything. Wise and Wiser decided to further their education, finding their call. Allowing them to, the Top 12 took the B-Jet and flew back to Titans Tower. After landing in the underground hangar and unloading all of their stuff, the 12 of them headed to the living room for much need relaxation. Scorch welcomed them back, but in a questioned tone.

"Hey guys..." he greeted, leading them into the living room.

"Why the unsure tone?" Kuku asked.

"Um, do any of you mind explaining who these two are?" he asked, pertaining to the robin and rooster standing before the Titans. They were very familiar to Sweet.

"No way..." Sweet uttered, finally recognizing his long-lost foster parents, Early and Strut.

"Long time no see, son." Early said.

SON?" exclaimed many of the Titans, looking at the birds and then back at Sweet.

"They took me in after my real parents died." Sweet clarified, hugging them both. They understood then. "How've you been? What's up?"

"We're fine," Strut replied, "but **what's up** is the research we've done recently."

"About?" Sweet asked.

"The parents... of all 12 of you," Early finished.

"Wait, how do you know about our parents?" Mystic interrogated, gesturing in a rush.

"Both of them are very good at knowing things... happening now, and what's going to happen later on," Sweet answered her. He turned back to his parents. "Go on."

He and Strut were like prophets, telling stories and revealing news how it is. Early nodded before continuing. "Personally, Strut and I watched over all of your parents. But for most of you, I'm sorry for revealing what I'm about to say about your parents. Those of you that already know what happened to them, you may step out now." Mac, Spunky, Hippity, Fleece and Aurora moved elsewhere. "Dotty, I presume that you already know what happened to your father. Sadly, your mother was killed in the crossfire of a massive gang war in Los Angeles."

"I understand." Dotty spoke, bowing her head.

"Canyon and Fancy, your parents are still alive and well... but they yearn to see you after so long. Visit them, will you?"

"We will." They both answered in unison.

"Kuku, unfortunately, yours were murdered in a mugging. I'm sorry."

"It's okay..." Kuku saddened.

"Floppity. I believe you know the story about your sadistic father, Pity. It's strange how he inherits part of your name. He's still alive."

"Great..." Floppity sneered.

"And finally, Mystic. Your parents are living as well, but they'd like to have a heart-to-heart talk with you... that is, if you're willing to know the truth."

"Sure. I think it's time I knew why I have this curse within me."

"Good. I would want Sweet and Aurora to go with you, for support."

"Oh, and one more thing..." Strut said, taking out a purple crystal ball. She handed it to Mystic. "This is yours."

"Thanks...?" Mystic was baffled.

"Is that it?" Sweet asked his foster parents.

"One last thing." spoke Early, clearing his throat. "Once again, Sweet, you will see us in the future. This is not only because you will have a better foundation of your heroism, but also because we will spread the word about you, your group, and Titans Tower as a whole. In other words, we will get other humanimals, young and old, to become Bean Titans."

"Really?"

"Yes, after all, we are always watching. As long as you trust us."

Sweet placed a hand on his chest. "To the fullest."

"That's my boy. Farewell for now." Early and Strut flew off from the Tower, on yet another quest. The Bean Titans waved goodbye to them.

"Your parents are somethin' else..." Mystic implied.

"I know, that's why I'm lucky to have them. Come on, let's get Aurora and head out to Ireland."

Sweet and Mystic called for Aurora, boarded the B-Jet, and flew off for Mystic's home.

* * *

The three Titans arrived at the Melody Castle on Achill Island. On the outside, the castle looked somewhat similar to the Hyrule Castle, only without the Triforce. Sweet, Mystic and Aurora walked up to the front gates, which then rose up, with Mystic's parents waiting on the other side.

"Mystic!" her father called, happy to see her again along with his wife, hugging her. Ever since she was free from her room, she was happy and never upset with her parents.

"Mother, father... this is Sweet. He's more of the brother figure to me." They shook his hand and turned to the polar bear. "Oh, and this is Aurora..." she paused.

"Your...?" her mother pushed.

"Fianceé." Mystic finished. This startled her parents.

"You're getting married already?" her father exclaimed, surprised until he realized that he and his wife missed out on a lot of time with their daughter. "I understand."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Mystic asked.

Her parents then escorted their guests to the ballroom and requested that they sit down. Their heart-to-heart with Mystic was now in session.

"Okay, first off..." began her father, "you know now about the Phoenix within you, I presume?" Mystic solemnly nodded, remembering the terrible experiences. "Have there been any incidents with it?"

"Only one, but no one was killed. Aurora saved me."

"And I can tell ya, it wasn't easy at all..." Aurora added.

"Thank you for doing that." Mystic's mother spoke.

"Have you done anything to control it?" her father asked.

"Yes... I know now that I can't get too overwhelmed with my psychic powers, otherwise, I'd be in another situation like before. I know that it was because of the Phoenix that I was confined to my room back then." Her mother started to weep, and her father sighed. Mystic was confused. "What's going on?"

"I think I should wrap this up." Her father said before continuing. "Me and your mother are not of this world, and after I defeated the Phoenix years ago, unforunately it confined us here—with no way of going back to our home world. Sadly, because of this revelation... your mother and I have only three more years to live."

This shocked Mystic, Sweet and Aurora.

"What do you mean?" Mystic asked, starting to tear.

"It's the Curse of the Phoenix..." her mother spoke. "I found and read through my old spell book. I found a strange purple page that I've never seen before, with everything about the Phoenix written on it. The Curse occurs only once, so if you decide on having any children, they're safe. It read: 'If any form of sorcerer were to defeat, or be affiliated with the defeat of the Phoenix, not only would the Phoenix reincarnate and seal itself within the next offspring of the sorcerer, but it would also set a pre-determined doom for the sorcerer(s).' The call time is 25 years after the offspring is born. We're sorry..."

Mystic knew that she was 22 years old, and fell on her knees. "That can't be true!" she weeped.

"It had to be said... and there's no way that we can avoid it. Mystic, understand this before you leave. We want you to live a life without worry, even with the Phoenix. So don't worry about us, even after we are gone. We'll always be with you... in your heart. We love you. Goodbye... and good luck with Aurora."

"**_Sudran, vydran_**..." Mystic spoke in Al Bhed, meaning "Mother, father...". Even though this is a sad moment for her, Aurora liked how she spoke her other language.

"Mystic, I think they've pled their case. The best thing to do is just let it go." Sweet said to her, leading her and Aurora out of the castle and back to the B-Jet, to head home. Mystic was still sad, even in Aurora's arms.

"I'm here for you..." Aurora whispered in sympathy to her.

From the turn of current events, Sweet realized the true message from his foster parents. "I know now; the real reason why Mother Strut and Father Early came and told us the news. Now that our families are braking apart, it's now time that we, as Titans, become and build a family of our own."

He was right. Now out of college, the weight of responibility just got heavier for the Bean Titans. Building families, getting stronger, defending themselves as heroes against enemies... it was now the Titans' Way.

I~~~**~~~I

Yeah...

Feel free to learn or reference the Al Bhed translations if you want to. I don't expect you guys to memorize it by heart (because I won't use it much), but it's your choice.

BUT STILL, I would love it if you guys give me your input or opinions on my stories.


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